Pakistan women's team leaves for England

Group set to take part in 2017 Women's World Cup

KARACHI: Pakistan women's cricket team jetted off to England on Friday to participate in the 2017 ICC Women’s World Cup, which will be jointly held in England and Wales from June 24 to July 23.

The travelling contingent includes the players, who had trained diligently at the National Cricket Academy in Lahore prior to their departure, as well as six officials.

Captain Sana Mir was upbeat about the team's chances at the big tournament. “The girls have worked really hard in all the training camps we had and are in good shape and fully fit,” she said. “We hope to achieve good results. We will bring our A game and are optimistic to go deep in the tournament.”

She further said the team also remains confident of beating India, having already registered a T20I victory over the arch-rivals. “It is always a pressure game but we will do our level best to win the match against them,” said Mir.

Pakistan will face South Africa in their opening match of the tournament on June 25 before taking on England on June 27, India on July 2, Australia on July 5, New Zealand on July 8, West Indies on July 11 and Sri Lanka on July 15.

But before that, the team will acclimatise itself to the local condition by playing a few warm--ups. “Practice matches will help us getting used to the conditions in England and Wales, which will help us in the actual tournament,” said Mir.