About Cricket: Religion dismisses Pakistan women (07 June 1997)

Saturday 7 June 1997

About Cricket: Religion dismisses Pakistan women

By Clive Ellis

EQUALITY of sporting rights seems to be an alien concept in Pakistan, where the national women`s team have been told they cannot play India at the Test grounds in Karachi and Lahore.

A three-match series was arranged as part of events marking 50 years of Indian independence, but organisers have been forced to reschedule the games at private grounds.

The Pakistan board of control have been accused of bowing to the strictures of religious fundamentalists, who argue that women should not be allowed to play sport in public.

Letters have also been fired off to the new Prime Minister of Pakistan, Nawaz Sharif, in the hope that he will promote a more liberal attitude towards women`s sport.

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HAPPIER news from the sub-continent, however, is that cricket`s oldest cold war is over. In September, India`s men will visit Pakistan for the first time since 1989. And in 1999 Pakistan will play five Tests in India, the first series between the countries for 10 years.

Bill Sinrich, of Mark McCormack`s TWI, who acts for both countries and set up the one-day tournament they play in Toronto every year, said: "The ground for this rapprochement was laid after talks between the prime ministers of the two countries. The cricket details were worked out by Majid Khan [chief executive of Pakistan Cricket] and Jagmohan Dalmiya [the Indian who takes over as president of the ICC next week]."

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THE moral majority have had their say in Oxfordshire, in the shape of a 10-point code of conduct issued by the county`s schools cricket association. Players, parents, managers and coaches have all been warned to play the game or else.

The cricketers have been told to refrain from "cheating, intimidation, sledging, over-appealing and over-applauding", while parents have been urged to accept managers` selections with good grace.

Nor are the team supremos exempt. Managers and coaches should not ridicule or yell at players; and they should avoid poaching players purely to satisfy their own lust for medals.

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WAUGH twins, eat your heart out. In Barnsley, they produce cricketing triplets.

Paul, Kevin and Andrew Sherief are regular members of the Darfield under-15 team and have already played two games for the club`s fourth XI in the Barnsley League.

Andrew and Kevin are useful all-rounders and Paul is a wicketkeeper/batsman. The 15-year-olds are almost identical, which has been known to bemuse not only the opposition but also teammates.

Club official Brian Littlewood asks: "I`ve been involved in league cricket for 47 years and I`ve never heard of triplets before. Is this a record?"

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`THE game must go on` was the response of sides who were confronted by an immovable object while playing in the Torbay Midweek League.

The weekend pitch was being prepared at Barton Cricket Club when the heavy roller broke down. Refusing to accept defeat, the company teams playing on an adjacent artificial strip simply slung a tarpaulin over the roller and got on with their match.

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THESE are grim days for cricket in the Walton-on-Thames area. Members of the Oatlands Park club voted to sell off their ground for -L6 million to property developers a couple of months ago, al- though they will each get a windfall of more than -L50,000.

And last week the clubhouse at Walton Cricket Club burnt down. Destroyed were many items of memorabilia which would have featured in the club`s centenary celebrations next year.

It was at Ashley Park that two former England players, Monte Lynch and Jack Richards, cut their cricketing teeth, and Walton also played a prominent part in the evolution of the game. There the unerringly accurate underarm bowling of Lumpy Stevens in the 18th Century led to the introduction of the third stump.

Source :: The Electronic Telegraph (https://www.telegraph.co.uk/)