The Hundred Women's 2021: Scotland leg-spinner Abtaha Maqsood bowls with a hijab for Birmingham Phoenix

The summer of English cricket is currently in full flow with the inaugural edition of the The Hundred currently in progress in both Men’s and Women’s cricket. The second match of the tournament in the Women’s game, saw Birmingham Phoenix and London Spirit get their campaign underway. While the format has certainly attracted a lot of attention, Scotland’s leg-spinner Abtaha Maqsood set an example on debut featuring for the Phoenix.

Her team batted first and she didn’t get a chance as the Phoenix posted 128/6 in their quota of 100 balls. However, Abtaha hogged all the limelight when she came on to bowl as the sixth bowler for her team defending a kind of modest total.

Abtaha came into the action 40 balls into the contest in the second innings and despite going for a four early, she regained her composure to concede only 7 runs in five balls while also bowling a dot ball. Moreover, she also broke stereotypes by bowling with a hijab setting an example for other young Muslim Women to take up the sport.

She was the last-minute registration in the competition with a lot of players getting ruled out for different reasons. However, Abtaha deserved to get a chance as she has experience of playing at the international level in 18 matches in the T20I format of the game. She will be in action again on Sunday with Birmingham Phoenix set to face the Manchester Originals at the Old Trafford.

Multi-talented Abtaha Maqsood

Abtaha Maqsood has shone for Scotland in T20Is picking up 23 wickets in 18 matches at a brilliant average of 12.82. She was also the part of the Scotland side that featured in the 2017 Women’s World Cup Qualifier. Not only in cricket, the 22-year-old Abtaha has made her mark in other sports too. She has won a Black Belt in Taekwando and was also country’s flag bearer in the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.

As far as the match is concerned, Birmingham Phoenix lost the thriller with London Spirit chasing down the total with four balls to spare. Abtaha will be hoping to contribute more with the ball for her team in the next match.