First ever girls' school academy started in Balochistan

As part of Pakistan Cricket Board’s (PCB) CRIC4US initiative, Al-Nisa School, Quetta, Balochistan has joined hands with PCB to promote women's cricket in the area.



Al-Nisa School is set to become the first school in the province of Balochistan to set up an all-girls cricket academy. The CRIC4US program was introduced under the Women's Cricket Vision (WCZ) in 2018 with the aim of setting forth a plan to grow the women's game at the grassroots level and encourage greater participation.  PCB is working towards achieving this by collaborating with schools from all across the country and starting with one in a province where no such academy exists is an exciting step forward in development the women's game in Pakistan.



The academy was inaugurated on Wednesday, July 17. Training however will begin in mid-August. To ensure the academy delivers, PCB's local coach Aqil Khan and veteran Nahida Khan will visit it frequently.



Following the announcement of their collaboration with Al-Nisa School, Senior General Manager Women's Cricket, Shahid Aslam said, “We are delighted with this development. PCB has made elaborate plans of promoting the sport across the country at the grassroots level. By introducing the sport to school girls at the Al-Nisa School, we are striving to tap the talent in Quetta and steadily grow our network across Balochistan. The school will run the academy and PCB local coach Aqil Khan and international Pakistan player Nahida Khan will also make regular visits to monitor the progress of the players."



“The grassroots program offers an incredible opportunity to these players to explore the basics of the game before graduating to the national junior and senior levels. As the first step in the right direction, this initiative will form the pathways for future women players and school cricketers.”



WCZ has achieved some success already, organizing an inter-school indoor cricket competition for girls. This helped increase the participants interest in the sport, and led institutions to realise cricket can be played and enjoyed in smaller spaces, with minimal equipment.