PCB announces support package for women cricketers amid COVID-19

The Pakistan Cricket Board PCB has announced a three-month support package for women cricketers under its duty of care policy.

According to the details, The proposal to fund women cricketers was made by Urooj Mumtaz who heads women’s wing. Later Chairman PCB Ehsan Mani approved.

The scheme will benefit 25 women cricketers, who will get a monthly stipend of Rs 25,000 from August to October.

The 25 women cricketers have been selected for the announced scheme after meeting the eligibility criteria.

Eligibility criteria for this three-month scheme are as follows:

Being part of the domestic season 2019-20,

Not getting a contract for the 2020-21 season and currently not having any source of income (job, contract, or business).

An outbreak of the coronavirus has affected cricket activities, which has led to the announcement of financial assistance for the 25 women cricketers after reviewing the current economic situation.

Earlier, the Pakistan Cricket Board had announced contracts for women cricketers in June.

According to which, the 12-month contract given to 9 Central Contract winners and the same number of Emerging Players has been implemented from July 1, 2020.

Following the recent announcement, the PCB is currently assisting a total of 43 women cricketers.

Urooj Mumtaz says women’s cricket activities around the world have fallen prey to the novel coronavirus.

She said that our women cricketers have also been affected by this epidemic and some of them are the sole breadwinners of their families.

Urooj Mumtaz said that as women’s cricket is slowly developing, therefore, it was the need of the hour that the PCB not only protects its players under this scheme but also assures them that the board values ​​them and stands by them in these difficult times.

Urooj added that a total of 48 players had participated in the domestic season 2019-20, out of which 25 players would benefit from the scheme while the remaining women cricketers are either on PCB contracts or they are working elsewhere.

She added that she was grateful to her team as well as the chairman and chief executive of the PCB for understanding the issue and making a decision that would help in the acceptance and promotion of women’s cricket in the future.