The Razdan Report: ACC Women's Tournament tour diary part 2

China's coach Rashid Khan with left, vice-captain Liu Bi Yu and right, captain Mei Chun Hua © ACC

When you say the word cricket, China is not the first country that comes to mind. But the huge Asian country is making strides in the development of the sport there and it is good to see that the women are not being left behind.

Rashid Khan has been coach of the China team since March of this year and he says he has travelled extensively around the main cities of China like Beijing and Shanghai in order to scout potential players.

"The players tend to come from schools and universities - all of them are students," said Rashid.

Rashid held a five-day camp in Beijing and out of 31 girls who attended 20 were selected for the final squad. The camp took place about an hour and a half from Hong Kong, which aided the team's preparation for this event.

"The weather here in Malaysia is identical to what it was like in Hong Kong. It was unfortunate that we lost some days due to rain but it was still very useful. At the end of the training camp, we played two matches against Hong Kong and although we lost them both, they were very important for us as they gave us the chance to get together and gel as a team," he said.

Rashid is confident that the Chinese girls will make it in international cricket faster than the boys.

Captains Maya Thapa of Nepal and Sornnarin Tippoch of Thailand after the completion of their match © ACC

"At this moment, except for Bangladesh and Hong Kong, all the other teams at this event are at roughly the same level, they are all beginners. The average of the girls is 18 and we have a couple of girls who are in their early 20s.

The laws of cricket have already been translated into Chinese but Rashid also has an interpreter.

"Cricket has its own language and through demonstration I can train but there are times when I need to talk and then I have this interpreter although some of the girls do understand and speak a little English.

Perhaps the most important shortcoming is the lack of turf wickets in China. The games there are played on flex and plastic and it is very different form what they have to play when they participate in international tournaments.

The UAE women's team take on Bangladesh in Johor, July 11, 2007 © ACC

"The UAE team is playing its first international tournament and most of the players are young. I know they were well beaten by Bangladesh (in their first game) but they lost to a good team, they should not be disappointed," he said. "It was just a bad day and from the little of what I saw of them, they have good potential."

I know Rashid's words will cheer up the girls as they have been disappointed since losing the first game. But next on our agenda is the game against China on Saturday and we will be working hard to make sure we give a good account of ourselves in that match.