Pakistan’s women team to tour SA in January, PCB releases schedule

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) announced on Monday that Pakistan’s women team will travel to South Africa for limited-overs series. The series comprises three ODIs and an equal number of T20Is which will be hosted from January 20 to February 3.

Durban and Pietermaritzburg will host the matches of both the ODI and T20I series. The players will depart for Durban on January 11 following which, they will be allowed to train and practice in intra-squad matches from 13-19 January.

As of now, 27 probable players have been selected for the South Africa tour who will be training at the Hanif Mohammad High Performance Centre in Karachi from 20 December. PCB will likely announce the final list of an 18-player squad for the tour on Thursday.

Furthermore, PCB is strictly maintaining the COVID-19 protocols. As a result, all the players and responsible authorities will stay in a bio-secure environment. Additionally, they will also undergo routine COVID-19 tests. The board will ensure that prior to joining the camp, each cricketer must test negative. Following the reporting to the camp, they must undergo another test, the result of which should be negative for them to go on with training.

According to PCB, both the boards have mutually agreed upon organizing the series in order to prepare their players for upcoming tournaments. Especially for Pakistan, it is a great opportunity as they will get a chance to prepare for the ICC Women’s World Cup Qualifier which will be held in July 2021. The event proper of which will be held in New Zealand in early 2022.

“I am delighted that Cricket South Africa have agreed to host us for a full tour despite having already qualified for the ICC Women’s World Cup 2022. This is yet another indicator and reflection of our relationship with the Member boards who are willing to help and support each other in any possible way,” women’s chief selector and head of the Pakistan women’s cricket, Urooj Mumtaz said in a statement released by PCB.

“I am sure this series will go a long way in not only assisting us to further improve our standards but also prepare for June’s ICC Women’s World Cup Qualifier 2021 as we aim to finish in the top three and progress to the event proper in early 2022 in New Zealand,” she added.

Pakistan tour of South Africa match schedule