England registered a convincing win over Pakistan by nine wickets in Christchurch on Thursday (March 24) to keep their hopes intact for a spot in the Women's World Cup semifinals.
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England registered a convincing win over Pakistan by nine wickets in Christchurch on Thursday (March 24) to keep their hopes intact for a spot in the Women’s World Cup semifinals. Opting to field first, England successfully bundled out Pakistan for only 105 before chasing down the target within 20 overs to register a huge win. They now have to beat Bangladesh in their final league game to reach the last four as well.
The defending champions, England made a great start when the pace-spearhead Katherine Brunt bowled an outswinger first ball that sent Nahida Khan in as she got an outside edge to the first slip. To add to their misery, Pakistan lost their captain Bismah Maroof to a run out in the fourth over. Meanwhile, Sidra Ameen top-scored with a 77-ball 32 but England put pressure on the batting order and ripped through the Pakistani batting order.
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Katherine Brunt picked up two more wickets to finish with a three-wicket haul that would certainly boost her confidence heading towards the end of the tournament. However, she had an off-colour tournament until this game, claiming just a solitary wicket in five games as well.
From 79/5, Pakistan collapsed in front of a strong bowling attack pretty quick as Sophie Ecclestone ran through the tail, picking up three wickets in three successive overs to skittle out the batting side for just 105. Even though victory was sure, England lost Tammy Beaumont early for just 2 as well.
However, after that, there were no hiccups as Danielle Wyatt smashed consecutive boundaries and found good support from captain Heather Knight. They remained unbeaten and took the team to the finish line in the 20th over where Wyatt scored an unbeaten 76 off just 68 balls.
Brief scores: Pakistan 105 in 41.3 overs (Sidra Ameen 32; Katherine Brunt 3/17, Sophie Ecclestone 3/18) lost to England 107/1 in 19.2 overs (Danielle Wyatt 76, Heather Knight 24; Diana Baig 1/14) by 9 wickets.
