The Razdan Report: ACC Women's Tournament tour diary part 1

Panna Ghosh bowls for Bangladesh women against UAE © ACC

After a gruelling 24 hours travelling from Dubai, we checked into the Zon Regency Hotel in Johor Bahru, a good six-hour drive from Kuala Lumpur.

The hotel is impressive and massive with more than 400 rooms and a full shopping arcade within its premises. Singapore is just 45 minutes away and the waterway is just minutes away from the hotel.

Shubhangi Kulkarni, Chairwoman of the ACC Women's Committee and Vanessa De Silva, Sri Lanka's representative, are overseeing the tournament. To develop women's cricket, Sri Lankan Cricket has invited ex-players to come forward and support the cause. Vanessa represented Sri Lanka in the World Cup in 1997 and played against Smitha, the UAE coach. They had plenty to discuss and the point that kept cropping up in their conversation was lack of funds though they hastily added that this has improved since their respective boards took over of the women's wing.

Bangladesh women cricketers, Salma Khatun and Panna Ghosh © ACC

"Gwen Herat did a lot for women's cricket but since 1997 there has been a slide and Sri Lanka are now in fifth position," Vanessa said. "Hopefully by 2009, we can put up good team and challenge the likes of England, Australia, New Zealand and India. Whatever said and done, the men's cricket takes precedence.

"Because I was working when I was playing, I could fund my travel and kit costs while most girls were struggling to do this. There is passion for the game but you need money too. Singer did a lot to support us and perhaps we can get them to help us again."

Lt Col Gerard Denis Singam is the Cricket Chairman of women's cricket in Malaysia. We were at the same breakfast table and he mentioned to me that he started getting women to play in the armed forces to attract more men to the game. That did not happen but women's cricket went from strength to strength. He calls his team 'Colonel's Angels'.

The UAE women's team take on Bangladesh in Johor © ACC

In our UAE team, Meena Shankar and one of two daughters, Sneha, joined the training camp together and Meena showed she still has the edge in the family as she was selected for the squad. She has played cricket at school and college in Tamil Nadu.

"We Indians have cricket in our blood," the right-hand bat and vice-captain of the team told me, "so interest was always there for me and that has rubbed off on Sneha as well."

Another important member of the team is Tahira Akbar Ali who is from a remote village in Pakistan. She defied tradition and played cricket along with her brothers and cousins. When she married she continued playing every chance she could.

Her husband, Ali Akbar Rana, represented UAE in the 1993 ICC Trophy so it is clearly a talented family. He is very supportive of her desire to play cricket. It is a dream come true for her to be representing the UAE at an international event.

When Praveen Veni told her cricket-mad son that she wanted to play the game too he was shocked as he had never seen her play before. But since then she has proved herself and the wicketkeeper-batsman is hoping to make a big impact during the tournament.

It's going to be a tough tournament for us as this is our first time competing together but I know the girls will give it everything and will never give up. We are really looking forward to the start of the competition now.