Women's Cricket gaining gound

TIRUCHY'S first-ever Women's Cricket team, comprised of 17 engineering girls of University College of Engineering (UCE)- Anna University (AU), are training hard for the upcoming inter-zone tournament. A few among them have already made it to the selection trials hosted by Anna University Sports Board, Chennai. After playing at the inter-zone women's tournament for two consecutive years, the girls now aspire to join a Cricket Club after completing their engineering degrees. After the recent ICC Women's Cricket World Cup which created an impact among the Cricket fan clubs, the UCE girls' favourite sportswoman and inspiration is Smriti Mandhana, they say. The team was runner-up at the inter-zone Women's Cricket Tournament held last year. Of the various zones formed CDAll girls, Including myself, had to understand cricket from the grass root level and learn back foot defence, square cut, lofted shots, In-swing and off-swing and much more
R Bhakiyalakshmi, player under Anna University for the 18 engineering colleges under it, University College of Engineering is 'Zone 13'.

Usually, men's Cricket teams see Zonal, inter-zone and selection trials during the tournament With only a few women's cricket teams across Tamil Nadu, the tournament would only bean inter-zone. The team captain R Bhakiyalakshmi (21) was a throw-ball player and had made it to the Nationals. She currently pursues final year in Electronics and Communication Engineering (ECE) in the college. Being an expert at Throw ball, she could adapt to Cricket easily. "All girls, including myself, had to under-stand Cricket from the grass root level and learn backfoot defence, square cut, lofted shots,
in-swing and off-swing and much more," she said. Bhakiyalakshmi pointed out that lack of awareness is the main reason for very few of women teams in the state and the country. V Dhivya (19), another team member, is awaiting a call from Anna University Sports Board to make her fit for the University Cricket team, following the selection trial last year. It was first decided by the UCE management that a sports team from the institution should become a sensation in the city and inspire other women to take up women's cricket.

Assistant Director of Physical Education, A Murugan said that nurturing a men's cricket team has become a usual task with loads of teams mushrooming everywhere. Concentrating only on women's Cricket team seemed more sensible. He, how-ever, said that selecting the best female Cricketers is not that easy, where only a minimal number of students could actually be sports enthusiasts and most are very good in academics. Dean of the institution, T Senthilkumar, said that the students educated here are selected purely based on Single Window method, where only a meritorious student would get admission and not through any sports quo-ta. The only option left with the physical directors and management staffs was to kindle the girl students to understand who could get trained for cricket. M Gopinath, Deputy Director of Physical Education was one of the faculties, who took efforts along with the Dean to form the cricket team in 2015. University Dean, who is a sports enthusiast, had provided the girl players with the best wishes.
Source: www. readwhere. com/read/c/22819169