March 15, 2009

Women's World Cup, 2009

We keep exceeding expectations

Urooj Mumtaz



I am so proud of my team that we keep exceeding everybody’s expectations at this event and that we managed to record another victory on Saturday.

The West Indies have done extremely well at this tournament so far, so to record a win over them was an extremely good effort and it was an excellent all-round display from the whole team.

Early wickets were always going to be important and Almas Akram bowled a beautiful opening spell. She may not be very tall but she bowls with good pace and an excellent line-and-length and she received some good support from our other bowlers.

On a personal note, I was pleased with my own spell of bowling, and Bismah Maroof deserves special praise for her outstanding catch. If it had been a televised match then I think that it would have had to be one of the contenders for the catch of the year as she flung herself at full stretch to her left and managed to keep hold of the ball with one hand.

I was a bit concerned when we were reduced to 55 for 5, but I knew that Armaan Khan has the strength and power to hit the ball very hard and so my focus was just on giving her the strike while she accelerated our run rate. It was quite a big ground so it was an excellent accomplishment to hit two sixes.

It was a shame that I couldn’t stay in until the end and guide the team to victory, but the whole side was ecstatic at the end when the winning runs came.

When the game finished, we all tried to grab one of the stumps, and then we went over to salute our noisy supporters. I am not sure where they all came from but there was about 200 Pakistan fans there, making the noise of thousands, and they were singing and dancing and cheering every run. It was amazing to have that level of support from the fans.

It is very exciting that we will have the opportunity to play Australia and New Zealand in our next two matches. We know that if we are to improve our ranking in international cricket we need to have the opportunity to play the best sides in the world and having put in disappointing performances with the bat against India and England, we are determined to prove that we can score runs against the very best.

You learn things from competing against top quality opposition, so to have the opportunity to play against the likes of Karen Rolton, Lisa Sthalekar, Aimee Mason and Haidee Tiffen will be a great experience for all of us.

But are not going to be just standing in the field with our autograph books, just because we are in the presence of the game’s biggest names, and instead our focus will be on beating them. We think we have a good chance of finishing in the top four at this event and we can’t wait for our next game against Australia on Monday.

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Posted by Mackeran on (October 29, 2009, 23:53 GMT)

Are you a professional journalist? You write very well.

Posted by Crasty on (October 27, 2009, 19:09 GMT)

I added your blog to bookmarks. And i'll read your articles more often!

Posted by arshad Syed on (March 20, 2009, 2:02 GMT)

Well done girls .. keep up the good work. You have made me proud to be a paki. And a great win against windies. Loss to aussies and kiwis is ok,take it as a learning curve, good luck for fifth position playoff.

Posted by Saddam on (March 19, 2009, 20:35 GMT)

Good job in this world cup!!!

We are playing Westindies for a fifth place now and a win will again give Pakistan fans and players alike a huge boost.

Pakistan indeed has exceeded all expectations in this World cup, but still as we all know, is a long way from the top 4 teams of the world. We have a young team which can get alot mature in years to come and can show improved performances over the course of time. The main problem seems to be the batting. We never looked like scoring 200. The game has changed so much and now more and more singles are taken and less dot balls. This thing can alone take score past 150. We need to have players who can bat through the innings without throwing a good start.

These things apart, Pakistani team has achieved something which, hopefully, will spark interest in women in Pakistan and we may see more talented players coming into the fold.

Ladies you have made us all proud.... keep up the good work!!!

Posted by faraan on (March 19, 2009, 12:47 GMT)

well done girls..you have made pakistan proud..keep shining n keep it up!! :)

Posted by Zohaib Anwar on (March 18, 2009, 19:45 GMT)

Great Job Urooj. Keep up the good work, every Pakistani supports you, Inshallah one day women's team will win the world cup.

Posted by Jahanzeb on (March 16, 2009, 22:05 GMT)

Great job ladies, maybe our men's team should take a lesson from your valiant efforts.

Posted by Niaz Ali Khan Yousafzai on (March 16, 2009, 19:28 GMT)

Hi Women Team, Its really great to see the performance of the Pakistani team against some the nation.

Posted by aftab on (March 16, 2009, 14:50 GMT)

well played.a nice learning experience for u girls.however must say i was dissapointed to see you girls get slaughtered by our main rivals india.dont know for how many centuries we will have to wait before defeating india in a wc match.

Posted by Saad Kahn on (March 16, 2009, 14:33 GMT)

Truly, unexpected performance by Paki woman cricket team and specially outside pakistan and on bouncy australian pitches and winning as well is truly admireable, well done and keep it up for now and for next time.

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