The BCF, which has a history of creating many firsts in the Kingdom, announced that for the first time in their history of the game, a T20 league for women consisting of eight teams
By K. R. Nayar
Bahrain Cricket Federation (BCF) has been doing everything right with regard to the spread of the game in Bahrain. Not only have they been promoting boys and men’s cricket, they are now giving a big push to girls and women’s cricket in a big way. The latest among their innovative initiatives is the launch of BCF T20 Women’s League. The aim is to attract more women to take up the game.
BCF has a goal and that is to create a pathway for their talented women cricketers to play in ICC T20 International matches in the future. And to make this goal a reality, they are busy making many a plan to reach there. Their first move, under the patronage of HH Sheikh Khalid Bin Hamad Al Khalifa, took place as part of Bahrain’s National Day celebrations, through the launch of the first edition of the BCF Women’s T20 league. The aim is to accelerate the spread of the sport, especially women’s cricket in the Kingdom of Bahrain.
The event held at the Isa Town Cricket Ground was attended by a large number of children, cricketers, and board members. Chief guest Yusuf Lori, director of Information at Capital Governorate congratulated the BCF and formally inaugurated the T20 Womens League along with Mohammed Mansoor, chairman, BCF Advisory Board and BCF Board members Anoop Kewalram, Fawaz Bokhowa and Ahmed Baqer. The event was hosted by Shailla Khan, the women’s cricket team manager.
Hatim Dadabhai, president of BCF, shared a message to the players: “Come together and fulfil your dream to be a cricketer and make Bahrain proud.”
The BCF, which has a history of creating many firsts in the Kingdom, announced that for the first time in their history of the game, a T20 league for women consisting of eight teams.
The T20 league’s eight teams are BCF Red, BCF White, High Performance Cricket Academy (HPCA) Queens, HPCA Superstar, HPCA Warriors, Star Lankans, Bahrain Spartans and Bahrain Pearls.
Matches will be played every weekend for next three months with over 30 matches scheduled to be held over Fridays and Saturdays. All players will be playing in their coloured team jerseys.
Mohammmed Mansoor, chairman, Bahrain Cricket Board Advisory Group, said, “Bahrain Cricket Federation is delighted to launch the T20 Women’s League to drive women’s cricket in Bahrain. This will provide the pathway for our talented women cricketers to play in ICC T20 Internationals. We are also exploring further opportunities to launch the GCC Women’s T20 Cup in consultation with other GCC Cricket Boards, which will further drive women’s cricket to greater heights.”
Anoop Kewalram, general secretary, BCF, revealed that this was only a beginning. “T20 Women’s League is a first step towards our vision to promote women’s cricket in Bahrain. I am pleased to share that we have Bahraini women actively playing cricket and we are working to further enhance this participation by supporting women’s cricket at the grass roots level by reaching out to schools, universities and colleges.”
BCF has already worked out plans to send coaches to schools and teach cricket free of charge. They have also supplied free kits to ensure that they keep playing the game. Plans are also on to launch a Gulf Cup for Women inviting six Gulf countries, Qatar, Kuwait, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and the UAE, to contest in this event to be held in Dubai during the first quarter of January 2022.
The most encouraging aspect for BCF is that many Bahraini women are enjoying cricket and playing it too. In the BCF Red team, around 50 percent are Bahraini women, while the others have a mix of nationalities. There is the Star Lankans team made up of many Sri Lankan women.
BCF is now providing high-quality pre-tournament practices, arranging practice matches, training camps, posting coaching staff and even physiotherapists for players of all age groups. They are on a mission to go to schools and motivate girls from a young age to participate in sports and promote physical fitness from an early age. BCF is thus geared up to invest heavily in spreading the game among women.
(This article has been used in arrangement with www.cricketlovers.com; All images in this article are courtesy https://krbuzz.blogspot.com)
KR Nayar is a senior cricket writer and analyst. He has covered more than 200 One-Day International matches including for Champions Trophy, Asia Cup etc. He has worked as a chief cricket writer for the Gulf News in the UAE for over two decades.
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