LAHORE : June 15, 2023: South Africa women’s cricket team will undertake their first-ever tour to Pakistan in August/September that will kick-start a busy 2023-24 international cricket season for the Pakistan women’s cricket team.
South Africa will play three T20Is and three ICC Women’s Championship 2022-25 ODIs in Karachi from 1-14 September. Pakistan is presently sitting second on points table with five wins in nine ODIs (three series), while South Africa has played only one series of three ODIs and has six points.
In the inaugural ICC Women’s Championship 2014-16, Pakistan had hosted South Africa in Sharjah with the African side winning the series 2-1. In the 2017-20 edition, Pakistan toured South Africa with the series ending in a 1-1 drawn after the third ODI in Benoni finished in a thrilling tie.
South Africa will be the fourth high-profile national women’s side to tour Pakistan in recent times. In January 2019, West Indies women played three T20Is in Karachi, while in May and November 2022, Sri Lanka and Ireland played ODIs and T20Is in Karachi and Lahore, respectively. Separately, 11 cricketers from seven countries, including three captains, featured in the three Women’s League Exhibition matches in Rawalpindi in March.
The home series against South Africa will be one of the five ICC Women’s Championship series Pakistan will participate in during the 2023-24 season. In October, Pakistan will travel to Bangladesh, followed by tours to New Zealand in November and England in May 2024. Prior to their tour to England, Pakistan will host the West Indies in April 2024.
This means Pakistan’s women cricketers will be involved in 15 ICC Women’s Championship ODIs and 17 T20Is over the next 12 months. The tally of T20Is is likely to increase as the side is also expected to participate in the 19th Asian Games in Hangzhou, China, in September. Pakistan women’s side had clinched gold in Guangzhou (2010) and Incheon (2014) when women’s cricket was included in the Asian Games.
With an aim to identify talent and invest in the future, the Pakistan Women’s Wing has also scheduled two emerging series against the West Indies (in October) and Bangladesh (January). Against the West Indies Emerging side, Pakistan will play three 50-over and three T20 matches, while on the tour to Bangladesh, the Pakistan U19 squad will play five T20 matches.
The forthcoming series against South Africa will be all-rounder Nida Dar’s first series as captain. Nida is the one of most experienced players in the country with 99 ODIs and 130 T20Is.