Pakistan Face Barbados At Edgbaston To Begin CWG 22 Campaign Tomorrow

The Bismah Maroof-led Pakistan will face Barbados in a day-night match at the Edgbaston Stadium to begin their Commonwealth Games (CWG) 22 campaign in Birmingham on Friday

LAHORE, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 28th Jul, 2022 ) :The Bismah Maroof-led Pakistan will face Barbados in a day-night match at the Edgbaston Stadium to begin their Commonwealth Games (CWG) 22 campaign in Birmingham on Friday.

The CWG 22 in Birmingham will be the first occasion in games' history since 1930 when women cricket will be included in the multi-sport event. The commonwealth games are held every four years while the first edition was held in Hamilton, Canada under the title The British Empire Games.

Eight cricket teams including Australia, England, India, Sri Lanka, South Africa, New Zealand, West Indies and Barbados will participate in the CWG 22 while athletes from 72 nations and territories, most of which were once British colonies once, will participate on 20 sport over the 11 days beginning from July 28 � August 8.

The Commonwealth Games were known the British Empire Games from 1930-1950, the British Empire and Commonwealth Games from 1954, 1966, the British Commonwealth Games from 1970-1974 and became the Commonwealth Games in 1978. The games are the only sporting event where athletes with disability will also participate.

Athletics and swimming make up the core sports at the Commonwealth Games while other sport are decided by the host cities in the light of its preferences and ground realities. Beach volley-ball and para table tennis will make their debut along side women cricket in Birmingham.

According to CWG President Dame Louise Martin, 'Birmingham 22 will be the first multi-sport event in history to have more medal events for women than men' and inclusion of women cricket consolidates that claim.

Pakistan are placed in Group A of the event and After the Barbados clash, Pakistan play arch-rivals India on July 31 followed by a match against T20 world champions Australia on August 3. The group B involves West Indies, South Africa, England and Sri Lanka. All 16 matches of the event will be played at Edgbaston Stadium, Birmingham. The top two sides from each of the two pools (four teams in each pool) will progress to the semi-finals that will be played on 6 August with the third position playoff and final scheduled to take place on 7 August.

Pakistan women team has reached Birmingham after a tri-series against Australia and hosts Ireland but their preparations were hampered due to inclement weather. Despite not getting opportunities to acclimatize to the weather, the Green shirts are confident of a good show at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham.

In the Ireland tri-series, only one out of Pakistan's four matches were completed. Nida Dar's all-round performance which won her the player of the match award, guided the team to a 13-run win over the hosts courtesy the DLS method.

The two matches against Australia had to be called-0ff midway while the other group match against Ireland was abandoned without a ball bowled.

Rain interruptions also hampered the pre-tour camp in Islamabad earlier this month. David Hemp, the team's head coach though believes that Pakistan will stay competitive in the Commonwealth Games as the squad aspires to impress and show their mettle regardless of the challenge of three formidable sides in Group A.

"Since arriving in Birmingham we have completed one practice session which was last night at Edgbaston and the players are really excited about the event. The game on Friday is what we have our eyes as we played two practice matches against MCC yesterday, the idea was to utilize all players in the squad in the two games and give them match exposure before the formal start of the event.

"The match against Barbados will be a big challenge as they are a formidable unit as most of the players' make-up the West Indies side. It is a great opportunity to play at a venue like Edgbaston and we hope the weather will be kind to us and we get to play all three pool games in the coming week."Squad: Bismah Maroof (captain), Aimen Anwar, Aliya Riaz, Anam Amin, Ayesha Naseem, Diana Baig, Fatima Sana, Gull Feroza (wicketkeeper), Iram Javed, Kainat Imtiaz, Muneeba Ali Siddiqui (wicketkeeper), Nida Dar, Omaima Sohail, Sadia Iqbal and Tuba Hassan.

Support staff: Ayesha Ashhar (Manager), David Hemp (Head coach), Saleem Jaffer (Bowling coach), Muhammad Zubair Ahmed (Analyst) and Rifat Asghar Gill (Physiotherapist).