The Pakistan Cricket Board announced a High-Performance Camp for 27 players. With this, the cricketing activities of the women’s national team will resume after more than seven months imposed break owing to COVID-19 pandemic. While the players will work on their skills, fitness and take part in practice matches, the captain Bismah Maroof shared that players are excited after meeting a gap of over seven months.
Notably, the 24-day-long camp is all set to start from 8th October and end on 31 October at the National Stadium and Hanif Mohammad High-Performance Centre in Karachi. While they last featured in the ICC T20 World Cup in Australia earlier this year, they are gearing up to make the most of the camp as well.
Bismah Maroof, who led Pakistan in 38 ODIs and 18 T20Is so far, said pcb.com.pk, “There is a lot of excitement amongst the players to get back together after seven, eight months. Everyone is looking forward to making the most of this camp by working on their skills and fitness. It is going to be a bit difficult to carry the rhythm from where we left but the aim should be to work hard and achieve it. We are looking forward to working with David Hemp, the newly appointed head coach, and try to get the best out of ourselves.”
She also revealed how she spent time during the lockdown. She shared that she spent a lot of time with her family, husband and in-laws and enjoyed it. Along with this, she looked after her fitness as well to make sure she stays fit to hit the ground running whenever the cricketing activities resume. She also said that she focused on running and cardio workouts at sunrise.
Bismah Maroof further said, “As a captain, my aim is to take this team into the top four and this team has that potential. But, we need to work hard to achieve and fully utilise it, which is our focus over the next year so we can prepare ourselves for the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup in New Zealand in 2022.”
On the other hand, Javeria Khan believes that this camp will give her the opportunity to get back to her batting form via the practice matches. Experience of playing 204 international matches so far, the star batter revealed that she fulfilled her hobbies which she had in her early days during the COVID-19 induced lockdown.
Javeria Khan shared, “I am very, very excited to get back and feel blessed to be taking the field again to play the sport, which I love. This is a new beginning of sorts as we have a new head coach joining us and the players are getting together after a long time. We will try to enjoy our time together to the fullest. It is great that we are having this camp at the start of our season as we can get in the rhythm. I will try to make the most of it and get back my batting form.”
However, she expressed that it was quite challenging to cope up with the crunch situation of COVID-19. But she found different ways to motivate herself which included painting and singing. She even said that she spent a nice time with her family as well.
“We could not compromise on our fitness during this time and this lengthy break provided everyone an opportunity to strengthen their basics in regards to fitness. So, my aim was to enhance my fitness levels so I am ready both physically and mentally for the on-field challenges,” concluded Javeria Khan.
Players invited for the PCB High-Performance Camp:
Aiman Anwar, Aliya Riaz, Anam Amin, Ayesha Naseem, Ayesha Zafar, Bismah Maroof, Diana Baig, Fatima Sana Khan, Iram Javed, Javeria Khan, Javeria Rauf, Kainat Imtiaz, Kaynat Hafeez, Maham Tariq, Muneeba Ali, Nahida Khan, Najiha Alvi, Nashra Sandhu, Natalia Pervaiz, Nida Dar, Omaima Sohail, Rameen Shamim, Saba Nazir, Sadia Iqbal, Sidra Amin, Sidra Nawaz and Syeda Aroob Shah
