From left: Deepa Joshi, Maheen Malik, Nida Nausherwan, Anzee Hassanali, Tzouliletta Zilfidou, Jasna Anicic, Kathryn Badarin and Areeba Khan.
Two of Sweden’s cricket clubs, Djurgården and Alby Zalmi, decided to team up to compete in a tournament in Malaga. The experience came to be a great success and was the perfect preparation for their season that started last week. “This platform opened opportunities for future collaboration and competition”, Anzee Hassanali said.
One of the players in Alby Zalmi learned about the cricket festival in Malaga and suggested the idea to Djurgården. Subsequently, the two clubs joined hands to register a team to compete in the tournament and within a couple of weeks, they travelled to Spain.
The tournament was spread across two days with back-to-back matches, which consisted of five-over matches with seven aside teams. The purpose of Sweden participating in the competition was to engage and learn with more female cricketers from all over the world, in which they succeeded. There were more than a hundred players who had signed up, and most were from Europe, but there were some who had travelled across the Atlantic to participate.
“It was a huge opportunity to meet new people, and everybody was there to share experiences and guide each other. Our players all had different skill sets, some had played for long, and for some outdoors was a new experience”, Anzee Hassanali said.
Worthwhile experience
The Women’s Cricket Festival, as it was called, was a huge platform for this Sweden team from Alby Zalmi and DIF to improve as players and individuals.
“We were always surrounded by women who love cricket, every second we were learning something. It taught us team spirit which cricket is all about and ignited a passion”, Nida Nausherwan said.
Anzee Hassanali continues: “This competition helped put Sweden on the radar and it was a platform to network and collaborate with different countries and teams that we will embark on in our cricket journey. This platform opened opportunities for future collaboration and competition.”
Aspire to become Swedish champions
For the last couple of years in Sweden, women have played a handful of tournaments that last only a weekend. However, this year things have changed. The 2022 women’s season will consist of league games where teams will be competing to play in the final of the Swedish Championship. Anzee and Nida are excited about the season and believe that they have a team that can compete and win the tournament.
“We are in the right direction compared to 5-6 years ago, but we need more games together, that is what we feel. The more one plays the more you learn. The game situation is different to practice. You learn how to hit a ball but how to find a gap is learned during a game”; Anzee Hassanali said.
Nida Nausherwan adds: “Competitions make you stronger and get you going. More internal competitions will help grow the game.”
Photograph: Personal
