U19 Women’s World Cup to be held in January 2023

The International Cricket Council (ICC) has confirmed that the inaugural U19 Women’s World Cup will be held in 2023 and will be followed by the Women's T20 World Cup. The ICC Chief Executive Geoff Allardice has confirmed the tournament as per ESPNCricinfo. 

“Inaugural U19 Women’s World Cup to be held in January 2023. The upcoming edition of the Women’s T20 World Cup follows soon after, in February, and will be held in South Africa.”  

The ICC CEO had earlier said that the U19 Women’s World Cup was “very much on the cards”. 

"The Under-19 Women's World Cup is in the schedule for January 2023," Allardice said earlier. "Over the next couple of months, ahead of our April board meetings, we will be looking for potential hosts for that tournament with the hosts to be decided at the next board meetings. It's very much on the cards for next year."

The decision to host the Women’s U19 World Cup had been taken back in 2019 when Shashank Manohar was the chairman and the ICC was looking to hold the event every two years. 

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Hasan Ali, Faheem Ashraf ruled out of first Test against Australia

Pakistan have suffered a blow ahead of the first Test match against Australia which is slated to take place in Rawalpindi, starting March 4, 2022. Faheem Ashraf and Hasan Ali have been ruled out of the fixture due to injuries and the selectors have included middle-order batter Iftikhar Ahmed and fast bowler Mohammad Wasim Jr. The two players will be under a mandatory three-day isolation at the team hotel upon their arrival in Islamabad before joining the rest of the team after clearing their respective Covid-19 tests. “Khyber Pakhtunkhwa captain Iftikhar Ahmed and fast bowler Mohammad Wasim Jnr have been included in Pakistan’s Test squad for the first match of the three-match series against Australia,” a PCB statement said. “The two have replaced Faheem Ashraf and Hasan Ali who have been ruled out of the Rawalpindi Test (first of the series) due to injuries,” it added. “Faheem and Hasan will rejoin the squad in the coming week and after completing their three-day mandatory isolation integrate with the rest of the squad during the first Test, both are expected to regain full fitness before the second Test that will be played in Karachi 12-16 March,” it further said. The two sides will then move to Karachi where the second Test is scheduled to take place from March 12, 2022 while the third and final clash will be held in Lahore from March 21, 2022. Updated squad: Babar Azam (C), Mohammad Rizwan (VC), Abdullah Shafique, Azhar Ali, Fawad Alam, Haris Rauf, Iftikhar Ahmed, Imam-ul-Haq, Mohammad Wasim Jnr, Nauman Ali, Sajid Khan, Saud Shakeel, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Shan Masood, and Zahid Mahmood

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PSL 2022 | Shaheen Shah Afridi wins Lahore Qalandars their first trophy

Lahore Qalandars are the champions of Pakistan Super League season 7. The Shaheen Shah Afridi-led team comprehensively defeated Mohammad Rizwan’s Multan Sultans by 42 runs to win their first PSL trophy on Sunday, 27 February. Defending 181, Lahore reduced Multan to 50/4 in the first 8 overs, which essentially paved their way into the game. However it was not as simple as that. The few overs in the Multan chase were chaotic. Runs were flowing from the bat, the ball was not swinging enough for captain Shaheen Afridi and easy chances were getting dropped behind the wicket. The captain’s tantrum Put this in the context that Multan Sultans had just defeated Lahore in the Qualifiers to get their straight ticket into the finals. This got Afridi very frustrated and he just about threw a tantrum after bowling his first two overs. With the captain going for 16 in his second over, he went straight into the umpire’s face arguing over a marginal decision that happened six balls ago. Afridi was erroneous in his fielding placements, chasing the ball every time it got hit for a boundary. Sultans batsmen - Rizwan and Shan Masood were having a good laugh in the middle over the situation and had scored 29 from the first three. The comeback With the captain just about going into meltdown, Lahore needed a senior pro to pool in all his experience and make something happen. And they did. The 41-year-young Mohammad Hafeez castled the Multan captain to bring the home side back into the game. He saw Rizwan shuffling and trying to access the leg side and darted in a full delivery into the middle and leg stump. Rizwan, looking to sweep the ball, got beaten by the pace and departed at 14 off 12 via a needless dismissal. The run-out They say one brings two and it did indeed. It took exactly 6 balls of pressure and a young batter in the non-striker’s end to effect the next dismissal. Shan Masood’s strategy after Rizwan’s dismissal was to keep ticking off singles, till Multan could see off some tough overs before launching in an all out assault. In the final ball of the 5th over, Masood tapped a fuller length ball to cover with soft hands and stormed out for a single. A run at that short a distance needed utmost commitment and trust of the non-striker, something that the 23-year-old Aamer Amzat did not have on his senior partner. Amzat hesitated before saying no, and chose not to move a single step off his crease. This ended up leaving Masood in the middle of the pitch, before Fakhar Zaman picked the ball, took his own sweet time, and then threw it straight into the stumps. Masood departed on 19 off 15, hurling abuses at his partner as Multan went into a frenzy. The collapse Three more wickets came in the next six overs as Multan found it difficult to negotiate the likes of Zaman Khan and Hafeez. More 36/1 in 4 overs, Multan were reduced to 63/5 at 10.4 with established players like Rilee Rossouw going back to the hut without doing much damage. Ex-Lahore Qalandar player Tim David tried his best to revive the situation, but the climbing run rate was too much for the Singaporean-Australian batter. With the required rate going close to 15 in the 13th over, David played some exquisite shots, before holing one out to Fakhar Zaman in the deep trying to hit Shaheen Afridi for a six. Barring David, Khushdil Shah tried wrestling Zaman Khan who was exceptional on the day and only managed to score 32 off 23 before getting cleaned up by a quick and straight delivery from Haris Rauf. The finish By this time the mood of the game had changed and Lahore knew that there was no defeating them. Shaheen Afridi bagged two more wickets at the death alongside Haris Rauf and finished the Multan innings. Another late revival in 1st innings Earlier in the day, Lahore got the most ominous start possible, with Fakhar Zaman failing in the second straight playoffs game. The left hander, trying his off-spinner Asif Afridi for a six over mid wicket, ended up getting caught on a boundary line catch from Shahnawaz Dahani which stalled the Lahore momentum for the first few overs. Down by 25/3 in 4.2 overs, Mohammad Hafeez held the innings together, expertly pacing his innings throughout the game. Hafeez had a blazing start to the innings hitting Rumman Raees for 3 fours in an over and then slowed down to see off the tough phase of the game. He targeted the Multan bowler in phases before entering the 14th over, where he started to take around 9-10 runs per over. The injection of the fearless Harry Brook helped the momentum with the Englishman finding his range in the final. He remained not out at 41 off 22 while Hafeez departed after an exceptional 69 off 46 balls. After Hafeez’s departure, it was once again Namibian David Wiese who smashed 28 off 8 balls to take Lahore to a safe score. Conclusion We have said this once and we will say this again, Lahore Qalandars are a proper team that feed off the energy of each other on the pitch. On the days their superman Fakhar and Shaheen lost control, Mohammad Hafeez, Wiese and Zaman Khan shone through to win a high pressure game in front of their home crowd. And that showed in the post match presentation as well where Fakhar Zaman won the batter of the tournament and Zaman Khan was rewarded with the emerging player trophy. Lahore’s first PSL win was as deserved as it gets and the premier T20 tournament in Pakistan would be glad that they were able to finish it without any interruptions. The 2022 PSL will go a long way to mend Pakistan’s relationships with other cricketing nations and give players confidence to return to a country that loves its cricket through and through.