West Indies Women to tour Pakistan for three ODIs ahead of World Cup Qualifiers
All three matches to be held in Karachi, with West Indies set to fly directly on to Zimbabwe
West Indies Women are set to tour Pakistan for three ODIs in November ahead of the ODI World Cup Qualifiers in Zimbabwe.
The matches will be held from November 8 to 14 with all games scheduled to take place at the National Stadium in Karachi. West Indies will then fly directly to Zimbabwe, with the Qualifiers to begin on November 21.
Earlier this year, Pakistan Women had toured West Indies for three T20Is and five ODIs, and Johnny Grave, Cricket West Indies’ CEO, said West Indies’ visit to Pakistan this time would serve as ideal preparation “in different conditions” ahead of the Qualifiers.
“This reciprocal tour to Pakistan is an important part of our preparation plans ahead of the World Cup qualifying tournament that is scheduled to take place in Zimbabwe in mid-November,” Graves said. “This tour to Pakistan will give the team the chance to play in different conditions compared to the Caribbean and have more high level competitive cricket ahead of aiming to secure one of the three qualifying spots available for the Women’s Cricket World Cup next year.”
The West Indies players are currently in Antigua for a high-performance training camp as part of their preparation for the World Cup Qualifiers, where they will be one of ten teams to compete for three spots in the tournament proper, to be held in New Zealand next year.
Meanwhile, Grave sounded confident of the security measures to be provided by Pakistan for the West Indies side, after the New Zealand and England’s men’s teams and England Women, recently pulled out of their Pakistan tours.
“”The security plan arranged by the PCB is the same high level that the West Indies men’s and women’s teams received when they last toured Pakistan in 2018 and 2019, respectively,” Grave said. “Independent security advisors, Eastern Star International (ESI) have confirmed to both CWI and WIPA [West Indies Players’ Association] that they are satisfied that the risk is manageable and can be mitigated to an acceptable level of safety. We will now take a final recommendation to our Board of Directors before the Selection Panel confirms the squad.”
