Beyond boundaries: Australia empowers girls through cricket

Celina Ali

Lahore: The Australian High Commission and Kinnaird College for Women today hosted the 5th Girls’ Cricket Cup in Lahore, with the generous support of the Pakistan Cricket Board.

By supporting this event, we aim to promote gender equality and empower these girls through sport.

Australia’s High Commissioner to Pakistan, Neil Hawkins, congratulated the girls and schools on their participation and thanked Kinnaird and Pakistan Cricket Board for their valuable support.

“Sport can help tear down barriers and stereotypes,” Mr Hawkins said. “Every time these girls hit a boundary or take a catch, they’re building their confidence and inspiring others.”
To prepare for the tournament, top coaches led the girls on a three-day coaching clinic.

“We are very grateful for the participation of first-class women’s cricket coaches and members of the Pakistan National Women’s Team, who took time out to build the girls’ skills and encourage them to push beyond the boundaries” Mr Hawkins said.

Head of Pakistan Women Cricket, Tania Mallick added: “It’s great to see young girls coming forward and making this tournament a success. We have been working for the growth of women’s cricket in Pakistan for quite some time. Recently, our talented Pakistani team performed quite well in the inaugural ICC U19 Women’s T20 World Cup as well as Tri-nation series. We hope tournaments like this will help us explore more talent at the grassroot level.”
Principal of Kinnaird College for Women, Rukhsana David said: “We are delighted to host this tournament for young girls. Kinnaird aims for gender empowerment through participation in sports. We are excited to have Pakistan’s national women cricketers as mentors to the participants. This helps foster confidence, team spirit, and inspiration among the girls. We hope this tournament will go a long way in developing women’s cricket in Pakistan.”

The 5th Girls’ Cricket Cup involved teams from four schools and sports institutes: Government Shuhda-e APS Memorial Girls High School, Government Central Model School, Government Tehzeeb-ul-Binat Model Girls School and Kinnaird Cricket Academy.