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FOR the first time in the history of cricket in Qatar, a women's cricket camp was conducted by Qatar Cricket Association (QCA) at the West Bay cricket ground last Saturday.
Braving wet and cold weather conditions at the ground, almost 100 cricket hopefuls went through their paces, much to the delight of QCA officials keen to develop women's cricket. Vying for a place in the Qatar women's team were players as young as nine years and some in their late 30s and hailing from different fields — school students, housewives and employed individuals.
But the chunk of the players who had lined up to have a bowl or to bat at the ground were girl students from various schools in Qatar and hailing mainly from the Asian countries of India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and Philippines.
The QCA women's development committee members were surprised with the response in the first-ever camp for women's cricket players.
Ms Maryam Gul Khan said that the committee were unsure about the turnout but the girls had braved the weather conditions for the greater love of the game.
"We will shortlist the girls and form three teams who will be trained every Saturday under the coaches till the end of April," said Aruna De Silva, national coach and head of the women's cricket development programme. While committee member Latha Dakshinamurthy was upbeat about rolling her arm and bowling and Ushas Andrew was happy to play the game after 14 years.
"I am thrilled to be among the gathering and ready for the challenges of the game having last donned colours of the Kerala University as a wicketkeeper-batsman. Hopefully we will have a good, strong team in the near future," said Andrews.
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