For the Irish women's cricket team travelling to Pakistan in less than three weeks, the political connection is clear. After eight years in exile, Benazir Bhutto returned to Pakistan on Thursday. Hundreds of thousands of her supporters took to the streets of Karachi to welcome her home. At the same time extremists killed 130 people with two bombs.

Bhutto's previous two terms as prime minister were prematurely ended under special powers, and she fled the country in 1999 amid allegations of corruption. What is more pertinent to our travelling party are two other factors regarding Bhutto. She has western allies, and she is a woman. Tick and tick, we are women and we are western. Extremists are likely to find Bhutto's gender as offensive as her politics, and the same may be true for us.

I know we are not going over there to shout about western politics, but we are women doing what they should not be, playing sport.

A sport which incidentally, Pakistanis are fanatical about, and at which our men's team humiliatingly beat them in the World Cup last March.

The upcoming tour to Pakistan is for the ICC Trophy . . .

the World Cup qualifiers.

There are two groups of four, the top two teams play a crossover semi-final with the two second-placed teams.

The two teams that make it to the final qualify for the next World Cup in Australia. Ireland are in the tougher of the two groups, and though we would expect to end up in the top-two along with Pakistan, it is likely that whoever tops the group will make it to the final. The team that comes second will almost definitely play South Africa in the semi-final, arguably the strongest team in the tournament.

Our first game is against the hosts, and though we have never lost to Pakistan in the four one-day games we have played against them, they have been named favourites.

Despite the fact that the tournament is based in Lahore, and most of the politicallydriven unrest is centred in Karachi, certain precautions will be taken to ensure the safety of the eight teams.

Strangely, it is these extra precautions, such as security firm Nicholls Steyn & Associates compiling a report on the situation, and additional independent and Lahore police security, that makes me more nervous. I realise that it is hard to hide 14 white Irish girls and their management team, but surely the less fuss made, the less people will notice us. As it is it feels like a spotlight has been put on us, and it's getting hot onstage.

Having said that, I think I would be willing to suffer a little extra attention for the luxury of wearing shorts in such a hot country. The Pakistan women's team only began playing internationally less than ten years ago. They overcame a great deal, mostly to do with their religion and the fact that they are women.

Now, as we travel to their country, we must "respect" their culture. We are waiting for confirmation, but we may have to wear full-length trousers while we are there, including during training sessions . . . women are not supposed to show their skin.

Having said that, I am looking forward to next month's adventure into the unknown that is Pakistan. There are many Pakistani cricketers in Ireland who are very supportive of the Irish women's team, especially those who we have played with and against over the past few years. I just hope that some extremists frustrated by an inability to get to Benazir Bhutto do not release that frustration by an attack on our team or the tournament we are playing in . . . after all, it's only a game.