Urooj Mumtaz (Pakistan)

Who will be No. 1?

There have been many exciting developments for our sport in recent years, but I have to admit it is great news that there will soon be an ODI Player Rankings system for women’s cricket. The rankings will spark additional interest in the women’s game, especially when there will be some high profile events in 2009 such as the Women’s World Cup. I am sure there will plenty of competition amongst players from different teams to improve their own ranking and I am sure it will occasionally get mentioned in the dressing room as well, but I think a bit of good-natured rivalry will be beneficial for the sport. I think the rankings will be particularly important in countries like Pakistan, where we don’t receive as much publicity and attention as other teams.

It will be nice to think that people will follow the No. 1 batsman and bowler in the world, in the same way that supporters are fanatical about the player rankings for men. I can’t wait until October when we will find out where all the players are rated.

Hopefully the rankings will provide us with an opportunity to raise the profile of the leading players and use the publicity to encourage more girls to take up the sport. It would be really nice to act as role models to girls who are interested in playing the game.

Preparations for the World Cup are going well – I can’t believe that it will only be six months to our first game against India. We have just gathered in Lahore for a batting and bowling training camp for which 28 players are in attendance.

During the camp the selectors will pick the squad for the home series against West Indies, after which I believe the squad will remain reasonably settled in our build-up to the World Cup.

I am really looking forward to having the opportunity to play cricket with the national team on a regular basis, for after the West Indies series we will be taking on Bangladesh and Sri Lanka in a tri-series.

Then there will be more training camps before taking on an Indian state side in Pakistan. After that I’ll have to give some thought to packing my bags for Australia