Women’s NCL starts today

The National Cricket League 2022 for the women cricketers starts today at Sylhet where eight divisional cricket teams are participating. The 12th edition of the WNCL is taking place at Sylhet where all the team captains participated in a trophy unveiling session on Wednesday.

Considering the format of the upcoming ICC Women’s T20 World Cup Qualifier 2022 and ACC Women’s T20 Asia Cup 2022 tournaments, this year’s National League will be a T20 event.

The participating teams are; Dhaka, Chattogram, Khulna, Rajshahi, Barishal, Rangpur, Mymensingh, and Barishal. The matches will take place at Sylhet International Cricket Stadium and the Sylhet Outer Ground.

Jahanara Alam, after playing for the Sylhet division for nine years moved to a new team, Mymensingh. The all-rounder told The Business Post that she is happy with the mix,

“In my new team, I felt like I have joined a franchise. They welcomed me well. I knew some of them from playing in the premier league, some had already come into the national team. It’s a young promising side”, she said on Wednesday.

The all-rounder also thinks that the competition will be evenly poised, “all the teams are quite balanced. Dhaka and Sylhet are strong sides but the other teams are also well equipped. It will be a good competition for us ahead of the Asia Cup”, Jahanara told The Business Post.

Bangladesh women’s team will play in the Women’s Asia Cup scheduled to take place in October. Being the defending champions and the hosts, Jahanara believes the NCL will give the women cricketers a chance for better preparation.

“ Yes, we are the defending champions but that was in 2018. Since then, the other teams have improved at a faster pace, especially India. But we are also hopeful as we are playing at our home. I think the matches we will play in this competition will help us to gear up for the coming events”, Jahanara told The Business Post.

Sylhet will face Chattogram at the SICS in the morning while Dhaka will face Chattogram at SOG. Two matches will take place on each ground on every match day. The first match of the day will start at 9 AM and the second match of the day will commence at 2 AM.