Lahore [Pakistan], Aug 6 (ANI): The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) on Thursday announced a three-month financial support package for the unemployed national women cricketers.

The proposal was put forward by the women's wing headed by Urooj Mumtaz and it has now been approved by PCB Chairman Ehsan Mani. Under this scheme, 25 women cricketers will benefit and will receive a monthly stipend of PKR 25,000 each from August to October.

The 25 women cricketers were selected following a selection criterion, which included featuring in the 2019-20 national domestic season and them not being contracted for the 2020-21 season.

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought a halt to all women cricketing activities worldwide. This has adversely affected our women cricketers, some of whom are the sole breadwinners of their families," Urooj Mumtaz said in an official statement.

"As the women's game is making steady progress, it was imperative that the PCB came up with this scheme to not only protect and support our players but to also make them understand and realise that the PCB values them and will look after them in difficult times," she added.

If the cricketers are presently without a job, contract or business, then they also fit the selection criteria. The decision to offer a three-month financial support package to 25 women cricketers was taken after analysing the present economic challenges due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which has also affected cricket activities.

In June, the PCB had announced a list of women's contracted players, which included nine centrally contracted cricketers and as many emerging contracted players. These are 12-month contracts, which commenced on July 1.

The latest PCB decision means 43 women cricketers will now be supported by the board.

In an identical scheme to help the affected combat the present challenges, the PCB, in May, had offered one-time support to 161 stakeholders, including former men's first-class cricketers, match officials, scorers and curators. (ANI)