Chinese Women to Emerge Major Force in Cricketing World
By April Yu 'Pakistan Times' Foreign Correspondent

BEIJING (China): Former Pakistan cricketer Rashid Khan believed that China's women's cricket team has a chance of becoming a major force in the world-sports in future.

"The girls in Asia seem almost the same. It's not like the boys, where India and Pakistan are too strong for China to catch-up in a short time," Khan told English language, China Daily.

Khan has been invited by the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) to train China's men's and women's cricket teams. After working with the U15 team for four months and coaching the women's teams at the national championships, Khan is amazed by the passion and potential Chinese women have for cricket.

"I want to give them my experience. That is my main focus here. They are very surprising. They are playing cricket for the first time and they play in such a good manner. They are very talented. "They are keen to learn. They are very much looking forward to cricket in China. The development is not very good yet, but they are hard working and there are many committed people, "so they could be in a different position in the next five or ten years."

The Chinese Cricket Association (CCA), which was established and joined the ICC (International Cricket Council) and ACC (Asian Cricket Council) in 2004, has been developing the sport in China in recent years, with the priority being building a foundation of players, umpires and coaches, "We began to promote the sport in 2005 and so far more than 100 schools have become involved in the sport," said Liang Guanghua, director of the Business Cooperation Committee of CCA.

In the 2nd Women's National Cricket Championships this year there were 19 teams taking part, compared to just six at last year's inaugural event.

The national finals wrapped up in Beijing at the weekend in May, and the rapid improvement has boosted the confidence of Khan and officials from the CCA. "Definitely, my target in China is to make them better and better," said Khan.

"They are very tough. In the physical side, they are better than Pakistan's girls. In China, girls are more keen to learn the sport than the boys."

"From my point of view, few countries are developing well in the women's cricket. The situations in India, Australia and England are a bit better," said Liang.

"It is a good chance for us. Most of the countries are at the same starting line." Liang said the first national women's cricket team will be set up soon, after selecting the best players from the country's top four teams. Khan has been appointed head coach of China's first national women's team.

Khan will lead a 40-day training camp in Shenzhen in a bid to prepare for July's Asian Championships in Malaysia. "For me, every match is like I want to win the championships. It is also the first such regional tournament for women's cricket organized by ACC."

An ambitious Liang revealed that the ACC and CCA will be working together to take Chinese women's cricket to a competitive world level within ten years.

last year, a high-level delegation led by ICC Chairman, Malcolm Speed and ACC President Shaharyar Khan visited Beijing and Shanghai. The two organizations announced a US $400,000 initiative to help China build its cricket infrastructure.

"I have seen 15-year-olds in Beijing who, if given every chance to continue their progress, will become very good cricketers. I foresee China playing in the World Cup of 2015."

The CCA's goal is to have 15,000 cricketers by 2009 with accompanying umpires and coaches, with this number rising to 60,000 by 2012.

By 2020, following the establishment of a national league, international club matches, a national school and inter-city competition as well as a credible Team China, the association expects cricket to be played actively by 150,000 people.●