26 January 2023
Players from the Pakistan team were at NSO to inspire the next generation of cricketing talent // Ian Bird
26 January 2023
Sydney’s young Woolworths Cricket Blast players of Pakistani heritage spent an amazing day with members of the Pakistani women’s cricket team at the North Sydney Oval on Monday and came back truly inspired to play and love the sport more.
For nine-year-old Sarina Hassan, who has been playing Cricket Blast at Cricket Central, it was a new impetus to begin her Term 1 cricketing journey, after not only seeing her heroes in action, but also batting to Pakistani fast bowler Fatima Sana’s deliveries and earning praise for her stance from the international cricketer.
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Three players from the Pakistan international women’s cricket team, fast bowler Aiman Anwer, wicketkeeper Muneeba Ali, and Sana, joined the group of 15-odd cricket blasters and junior players, toddler brothers and sisters in tow, to meet their heroes and do what they all love most – play cricket and be part of the next generation of NSW’s vibrant multicultural cricketing landscape.
For some such as Khadijah, Malayeka and Naba, it was a chance to see how amazing playing cricket can be and how easy it is to play the sport in Australia through the Cricket Blast programs. “I will definitely explore Term 1 programs for the girls near where I live,” said their parent/aunt Mahjabeen Siddiqun.
All around the state, Cricket NSW is setting up Term 1 programs starting next week. A good many of them are geared towards girls getting unique opportunities to play cricket, some made possible by the CommBank Growing Cricket For Girls Fund, others Girls’ Only Cricket Blast programs that aim to make the sport more accessible to girls.
With over 200 centres offering Cricket Blast and Stage 1 programs, including variants such as After School Pop-Up Cricket Blast, all abilities and social cricket programs, there is a cricket program at your convenience near you everywhere.
Julie Stafford, Female Engagement, Diversity and Inclusion Manager, CNSW, says:
At Cricket NSW are focussed on ensuring that Cricket is truly a sport for all. We are delighted with our growth of the number of girls playing this season and we are focussed on ensuring that our clubs and programs are truly representative of our communities. It’s important for us to connect our local communities with international players when the opportunity arises – as it has with Pakistan Women’s team playing here. We’re running new cricket programs in Term 1 for girls and boys – so please look at playcricket.com.au to get involved in a local program.
© 2023 Cricket New South Wales.All rights reserved
© 2023 Cricket New South Wales.All rights reserved
Cricket NSW is a member association of Cricket Australia – the national governing body for the game in Australia.
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