Pak Women To Travel To South Africa For A Limited Overs Tour In Jan

Pakistan women's cricket team will tour South Africa for three ODIs and as many T20Is to be played in January and February next year, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) announced on Monday.

The series will start and finish in Durban with the first ODI on January 20 and the third T20I on February 3. Both matches will be played under lights. Durban will also stage the second ODI on January 23 before action will move to Pietermaritzburg where the third ODI and opening two T20Is will be played on January 26, 29 and 31 respectively.

PCB's women's national selection committee has invited 27 women cricketers for a training and preparation camp, which will be held at the Hanif Mohammad High-Performance Centre in Karachi from December 20.

From the start of the training camp until the side's departure for Durban on January 11, the cricketers will remain and train in a bio-secure environment, besides undergoing routine testing in line with the PCB Covid-19 protocols.

Prior to joining the camp, each cricketer will require a negative test and another negative test after reporting for the camp before being allowed to integrate with other members of the group.

"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," PCB women's chief selector and head of the women's cricket, Urooj Mumtaz said.

"South Africa are ranked above us, both in the ODI and T20I formats and, as such, 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 event proper in early 2022 in New Zealand," she added.

The tour to South Africa will also be the first official assignment of head coach David Hemp and bowling coach Arshad Khan. While Hemp joined forces in October, Arshad was appointed in November. Mohammad Kamran Hussain will be the assistant coach at the training camp.

This will be Pakistan women's side's second tour to South Africa within 18 months. In May 2019, Pakistan and South Africa featured in one of the most thrilling, keenly contested, and exciting women's series to date.

27 probables for the South Africa tour are (18-player squad expected to be announced on December 31): 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