A big hit for gender equality

May 24, 2018 | Sports | 0

SELINA Solman is travelling from Port Vila to London to go into bat for gender equality.

She is also going to bowl as well.

Selina, 23, is the captain of Vanuatu’s national women’s cricket team and she is off to London to play in a special T20 cricket match next week.

The match is sponsored by Fairbreak Global which is a global initiative designed to create pathways for women to have better access to opportunities, education and high level performance roles.

Selina has been selected to play for the FairBreak Global XI in an exhibition T20 match on May 30 in London to celebrate the inaugural Day of Gender Equality.

“I am excited and nervous about next week’s game and I will be playing with some of the greatest female players in world cricket including the captains of the Australian and New Zealand teams,” she told The Independent Online news this week.

The match will be held at Wormsley Park in Buckinghamshire at the estate of the late billionaire philanthropist John Paul Getty, and the field is regarded as one of the most beautiful cricket grounds in the world.

It will be played between Sir Paul Getty Women’s XI and FairBreak Global XI, which comprises international players from 11 countries.

“It would be a privilege to be part of such a global setting,” said Selena as she prepares to fly around the world.

She it is also important for her to be representing Vanuatu on a day dedicated to gender equality.

“In a way I will be representing all the women of Vanuatu, so no wonder I am nervous,’’ she said.

Selena’s team will be coached by former West Indies player Vasbert Drakes, former Australian fast bowler Geoff Lawson and Damien Wright, with the FairBreak Global XI to be managed by Saba Nasim, who was awarded a BEM for her coaching of women in England.

The John Paul Getty Foundation has never fielded a women’s team but their men’s team has in the past included star players like Brian Lara and Shane Warne.

Selena said there are some great players in her team and she sees this game as an opportunity to learn from them.

The FairBreak Global XI comprises: Akanksha Kohli (India), Alex Blackwell (Australia),

Diane Bimenyimana (Rwanda), Diviya GK (Singapore), Divya Saxena (Canada), Lakshmi Yadav (India), Mariko Hill (Hong Kong), Nadia Gruny (USA), Vaishali Jesrani (Oman), Selina Solman (Vanuatu), Shamilia Connell (West Indies) and Suzie Bates (New Zealand). READ MORE

SOURCE: THE VANUATU INDEPENDENT

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