Staff Report
ISLAMABAD: As the women’s Twenty-20 World Cup gets ready to start in South Africa on Friday (tomorrow), here are five players to watch out for.
Pakistani Cricket Player Nida Dar
According to the AFP, Amid the young guns, the old stager in the shape of Pakistan’s 36-year-old off-spinner Nida Dar.
After making her global debut against Ireland in 2010, she has gone on to play 84 one-day internationals and over 100 T20Is.
She had named Pakistan’s player of the tournament at the 2018 T20 women’s World Cup and featured again in 2020. She is just five short of West Indies’ Anisa Mohammed’s record of 125 Twenty-20 wickets.
Her nickname is “Lady Boom Boom” a reminder that she is also a useful slugger with the bat.
Indian Cricket player Shafali Verma
At the end of January 2023, Shafali Verma led India to victory in the Under-19 women’s World Cup. Barely two weeks later, the 19-year-old batter had back in South Africa to help India in their bid to win the T20.
As a child, she has disguised herself as a boy in order to play but after breaking into the senior women’s player, there has been no stopping her.
Youngest global, the youngest to run 50 which she did against the West Indies team in her first series, and the youngest to play in all three formats for India.
Her aggressive batting style resulted in the nickname “Lady Sehwag”.
English Cricket player Alice Capsey
If England, were to unseat defending champions Australia they could need their 18-year-old all-rounder Alice Capsey to live up to and exceed her remarkable progress.
First, though, they need her to be fit she broke her collarbone during England’s tour of the West Indies in December 2022. But if she firing on all cylinders the batting all-rounder could be crucial.
She made her international debut the previous summer and was England’s highest runner at the Commonwealth Games. The two-time winner of The Hundred with Oval Invincible, she has starred for Melbourne Stars in the women’s Big Bash in Australia.
Australian Player Kim Garth
Kim Garth was 14 when she made her international debut in the one-day international against New Zealand in 2010.
That was in the green shirt of her native Ireland with whom she won 114 caps in total and was vice-captain. She was named Ireland cricketer of a decade in 2021 but by then had decided to try for a pro career in Australia.
It worked. The 26-year-old all-rounder did well enough to qualify for her new nation, making her debut in a Twenty-Twenty in Mumbai in December 2022.
Defending champions Australia has the side packed with good names so Garth’s opportunities may be limited but if she should get some time in the spotlight, expect her to make a most of it. One thing she could be glad about, however, is that Ireland is in the other group.
South African Player Marizanne Kapp
When Dane van Niekerk cut from the squad there was the fear that her wife Marizanne Kapp might step away.
But the 33-year-old stayed with a team that, realistically, is only likely to progress from the group that includes New Zealand, and Australia, if she delivers.
Kapp has had her issues, not least four bouts of Covid-19, but she is a class all-rounder with a Test hundred under her belt and a lorryload of wickets.
She was South Africa’s standout performer in the previous year’s ODI World Cup with 203 runs and 12 wickets.
ICC Women’s T20 World Cup
The ICC Women’s T20 World Cup is the biennial international championship for women’s Twenty-20 International cricket. The event is organised by the International Cricket Council — the sport’s governing body — with the first edition having held in England in 2009.
