By Vir B. Lumicao
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| Divas captain Josie Arimas will lead the Phl national team in its first international competition |
Nine players of SCC Divas, the first ever Filipina cricket
team outside the Philippines, will leave for Manila on Dec 19 to play for the
National Team that will face Indonesia in a four-match T20 international in
Cavite on Dec 21-22.
The Divas contingent, comprising Hong Kong-based domestic
workers, will form the backbone of the country’s first cricket Women’s National
Team that will be playing its maiden international match on Dec 21.
Divas captain Josie Arimas said in an interview on Dec 4 that
the rest of the players in the National Team, which number no more than 14, were
chosen from relatively young women’s cricket teams in the country.
As of this writing, the Philippine Cricket Association,
which invited the Divas players to join the National Team, has not yet
announced who will captain the country’s squad.
Other Divas stalwarts on the team are Jennifer Alumbro,
Jonna Eguid, Romela Osabel, Cherry Octaviano, Christen Joy Lovino, Catherine
Bagaoisan, Ma Luz Madia and Rosaly Pagarigan.
Arimas said these former softball, baseball and volleyball
players are strong in both bowling and batting.
They are mostly pioneers of the Divas team that Arimas
formed two years ago and captured the crown in their maiden appearance in
Cricket Hong Kong’s Development League in the 2018 season.
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| Formed only 2 years ago, Divas won its first major cricket match in HK, the Development League |
Arimas said the Philippine National Team will be facing a
big challenge because Indonesia
is strong. She said the results of the competition will count in the cricket
world rankings for women.
The Philippine and Indonesian teams will play two 20-over,
or T20, matches on Dec 21 and another two on Dec 22. All four games will be
played on the PCA cricket field in Dasmariñas, about 50 kilometers or 2 hours
ride from Nino Aquino International
Airport.
“Underdog kami. Ang Indonesia ay pang-22 sa ICC T20
women’s rankings samantalang kami ay ngayon pa lang sasali,” said Arimas.
There are 55 countries in the roster of the International
Cricket Council, cricket’s world governing body, with the Philippine men’s team
occupying 20th place in the international T20 league.
Arimas said air tickets of some of the Divas players will be
paid by their employers as the competition coincides with their annual vacation.
But those who are flying to Manila
just for the tournament will pay for their own tickets.
She said the Divas players on the National Team will no
longer be able to play in
Hong Kong’s Development
League, a division for new teams or sides that need to improve their
performance before rejoining the big league.
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