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England humiliate Pakistan to earn first victory of ICC Women’s World Cup 2017
England women had lost their tournament-opener versus India by 35 runs.
Published: Jun 27, 2017, 10:40 PM (IST)
Edited: Jun 27, 2017, 10:40 PM (IST)
In match 5 of ongoing ICC Women’s World Cup 2017, England emerged on top of Pakistan by 107 runs (DLS method). Opting to bowl, Pakistan started well only to fall off the cliff courtesy a record 213-run stand between centurions, Heather Knight and Natalie Sciver. Visitors were never allowed to stage a comeback into the match and eventually succumbed in their second encounter on trot. Meanwhile, hosts and title-contenders, England, notched up their first win of the tournament after posting a mammoth 377 for 7; second highest score in Women’s World Cup history. This is also the fifth highest score in Women’s ODI and England’s second highest.
Kainat Imtiaz broke the shackles by taking early wickets after Sana Mir invited England to bat. Sarah Taylor was given a reprieve on the very first delivery but failed to capitalise on it. After Tammy Beaumont’s departure, England were in a spot of bother with hint of swing and relatively tight bowling. Nonetheless, the pressure was eased off due to sloppy fielding, strike rotation and extras being conceded at will. Knight and Scive played the middle overs by buying time and used their feet well after settling in. While Scive was in full control, Knight played a captain’s knock. The duo reached their respective maiden centuries to bail the side.
Scive’s innings was studded with 14 fours and 4 sixes, whereas Knight was not far behind with 12 fours and 2 maximums. Mir and other spinners failed to curb the run flow and injected no wicket-taking deliveries. The late onslaught was provided by Danielle Wyatt and Fran Wilson even though England lost few wickets in death overs. The last 10 overs leaked 100 runs as England piled up a humongous score. Every bowler remained expensive. Asvamia Iqbal was on a hattrick at one stage, but got rewarded with the opposition trying to up the ante.
In reply, Pakistan were never in the chase. They lost in-form opener, Nahida Khan, early. Ayesha Zafar held the innings, but saw the failures of Javeria Khan and Iqbal from other ends. Katherine Brunt’s twin strikes brought Pakistan on the mat and tight bowling from others proved too much for their opponents. Nain Abidi lend some support to Ayesha with an unbeaten 40-run stand (off 72 balls), but failed to match up with the required run-rate. Zafar reached fifty before rain stopped play in the 30th over. Pakistan were 111 runs behind D/L par score, which depicts the state of their innings.
Knight and Sciver’s brilliant counter-attack buried Pakistan to lead hosts in earning two valuable points in the tournament. They will next face Sri Lanka, whereas Pakistan will lock horns with India and look to get off the mark in the competition.
Brief scores:
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England 377 for 7 in 50 overs (Heather Knight 106, Natalie Sciver 137, Danielle Wyatt 42*; Asvamia Iqbal 3 for 62, Kainat Imtiaz 2 for 68) beat Pakistan 107 for 3 in 29.2 overs (Ayesha Zafar 56*, Nain Abidi 23*; Katherine Brunt 2 for 21) by 107 runs (DLS method).