Bhutan Cricket eyes big, commences High-Performance Program for Women Cricketers

Bhutan Cricket (BC) has commenced its ten-month High-Performance Programme (HPP) for its Women Cricketers as preparation for the upcoming ICC Women’s T20 World Cup Asia Qualifiers, to be held later this year.

The HPP that started on the 11th of February has been divided into four different phases and each phase comprises different sets of activities for two months; general preparatory, specific-preparatory, pre-competition, and competition. 

Bhutan Cricket has also announced contracts for 14 players for the next ten months so that the players can totally dedicate themselves during the High-performance camp. The grading of the cricketers has been categorized into four, in which the cricketer under Grade A will receive a stipend of Nu. 15000 ($206), B will receive Nu. 10,000 ($137), C will receive Nu. 5000 ($69) and D grade will receive Nu. 3000 ($41) monthly. 

Along with the monthly stipend, they will also receive their daily allowances and incentives for excellent performances differently in the international and practice matches. Aside from this, Bhutan Cricket will also take care of the travel allowances, entire logistics, training attires, and will provide each cricketer with a set of cricket kit worth Nu 30,000 with cricket shoes aside. 

The board has announced that the team selections will be carried out on the basis of past and recent performance, along with the accessibility of the cricketers due to COVID-19’s restrictions. As reported, eight cricketers have signed their Bhutan Cricket contract thus far, with the remaining six to be signed in the near future. The women’s team is likely to travel to Indian neighboring states Sikkim, Assam, and Bengal for standard practice matches during the HPP. 

“This project is in an initial stage and our aim is mainly to develop competitive national teams and if our women’s team improves their performance by 70-80%, we are successful. However, it entirely depends on the mindsets of the coaching team and players”, CEO of Bhutan Cricket Damber S Gurung reflected on the programme. 

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