Women’s T20 World Cup: Pakistan, England pull off impressive wins as Group B gets interesting
If Australia thought they were in for a real battle at the Women’s World T20 then spare a thought for the combatants in Group B. Four out of the five teams are in with a realistic semifinal shot.
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Pakistan has cruised to victory in their opening match of their T20 World Cup, by beating the West Indies by eight wickets in Canberra.
West Indies won their opening match against Thailand but the 2016 champions never looked in control on Wednesday as Pakistan got home with 10 balls to spare.
After winning the toss, West Indies were immediately in trouble at Manuka Oval when Hayley Matthews was dismissed lbw with the first ball of the contest. Matthews was timed out before reviewing and had an animated discussion with assistant coach Courtney Walsh in the dugout as replays showed the ball pitching well outside leg stump.
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Pakistan kept the run rate at bay as Diana Baig (2-19), Anam Amin (1-19), Nida Dar (2-30) and Aiman Anwar (2-32) all bowled handy four-over spells.
Shemaine Campbelle (43 off 36) and captain Stafanie Taylor (43 off 47) were the only players to make decent contributions as West Indies finished at 7-124 after 20 overs.
Pakistan looked comfortable chasing from the first over as Javeria Khan (35 off 28) and Muneeba Ali Siddiqui (25 off 26) put on a 58-run opening stand.
West Indies used seven bowlers to little avail as skipper Bismah Maroof (38 off 37) and Nida Dar (18 off 20) finished the job in the penultimate over.
“That was a great win, we wanted this win to get the momentum going in this World Cup,” Pakistan captain Maroof said.
“We took big wickets at crucial times and put them under pressure. We are smart cricketers, we need to play to our strengths and did.”
Counterpart Taylor was blunt in her assessment.
“When you look at the total and the type of batters we have I reckon we should be scoring over 150,” she said.
“Batters need to be accountable and take that responsibility.”
Meanwhile, skipper Heather Knight smashed the first century of the tournament as England emphatically got their campaign back on track with a crushing 98-run win over minnows Thailand.
Originally published as Women’s T20 World Cup: Pakistan, England pull off impressive wins as Group B gets interesting