Friday, 12th December 2014, Kuwait National women’s cricket team is all set to take up the challenge and are fully geared up to take part in the inaugural GCC women’s T20 cricket tournament being hosted by Oman Cricket Association from Dec 13-20, 2014 at Oman. This tournament is well designed for women cricketers to show their skill and talent and since long many of the GCC women’s team have not been playing International cricket and it is for the first time that a cricket tournament for women is being organized by Oman and 4 GCC teams to the likes of Kuwait, Qatar, UAE and host Oman are participating in this prestigious tournament.

Kuwait women’s team under the astute captaincy of Mariyam Omar have been undergoing vigorous training and are beaming with confidence as they have been eagerly waiting to participate in an international tournament. The team consists of some experienced players who have ample exposure to International cricket and some young blood who has been motivated into this game.

Tariq Rasool, the coach along with Sandra Almedia and Mehaboob Khan the Manager of the team are both confident that the team would perform well and can be the dark horse of the tournament as they are capable of upsetting any favorite team on a given day.

1.Maryam Omar

2.Khadija Khalil

3.Mariamm Hyder

4.Varshini Suresh

5.Sabreen Zaki

6.Poonam Tamang

7.Maryyam Ashraf

8.Shekhah Al-Khashti

9.Mariyam Khalil

10.Iqra Ishaq

11.Kalaivani Santhosh

12.Amna Sharif

13.Maria Jasvi

14.Aiman Nadeem

15. Mehaboob Khan – Manager

16. Tariq Rasool Shah- Coach

17. Sandra Almeida – Coach / Physio

The inaugural GCC Women's Twenty20 Championship will be played in Oman this month. The five-day event will feature the hosts along with Kuwait, Qatar, and UAE. "It's a wonderful opportunity for the women to play some international cricket after quite some time," says ACC Development Officer Iqbal Sikander.

The initiative has been taken by Oman and is making use of the funds allocated to women’s cricket by the ACC.

UAE, the pioneers of women’s cricket in the Gulf, who have been playing in ACC women’s events since 2007 have selected a strong squad from more than 40 hopefuls. Quoted in Gulf News, team manager (and former national player) Manvi Dhodhi says “many academies in the UAE are now producing women cricketers...it was an intense competition for the 15 member team. After one and half month’s training we organised two selection matches for the selectors to watch and pick the final 15. The matches were of high standards and we are witnessing a general upswing in women’s cricket.” Oman have been training hard for this event since the start of 2014 and are likely favourites. Kuwait and Qatar will possibly be just as competitive.

“You cannot believe how much we have waited for this chance to play. Our girls are so passionate for this game and we will do everything we can to help them,” says Qatar’s Women’s Cricket Co-ordinator Maryam Gul Khan. Kuwait have been working steadily, consistently, diligently too, under coach Tariq Rasool and have had the added benefit of a session with ACC Development Officer Aminul Islam in November. “The girls have a pretty good idea of cricket, they have quite some fitness, most importantly they have a good attitude,” says Aminul, “to have a focus for all their efforts with this Gulf Cup is very motivating.”

Organised by the Gulf nations themselves, it is hoped that the GCC Women’s Twenty20 Championship will be played annually