Heather Knight’s half-century and some fine spin bowling gave England a crucial but comfortable win over Pakistan
Related: England have much to ponder after victory over Pakistan at T20 World Cup
So what could have been a stressful and tense encounter proves to be a bit of a stroll for Heather Knight’s side. That slow start and late flurry of wickets will be an irritant but the batting of Sciver and Knight, and the spin bowling in particular, suggest England have every chance of making an impact in this tournament.
Raf Nicholson’s match report will be here soon but from me, cheerio!
A comfortable win for England in the end then.
Brunt finishes things off for England, trapping the No 11 in front.
19th over: Pakistan 112-9 (Aiman 2, Sadia 0) Those two wickets came from the last two balls of the over so Shrubsole will open the bowling in England’s next game on a hat-trick
Two in two! Shrubsole takes a very smart return catch for her 100th T20 international wicket.
The impressive Aliya pulls for two then dabs Shrubsole away for four. A half-century would be fine reward for her efforts – this is a hammering but she’s provided a modicum of respectability to the scoreline. Of course, having written that, she misses a straight one.
18th over: Pakistan 103-7 (Aiman 1, Aliya 35) Two from the over, leaving Ecclestone with figures of 4-0-12-2. England’s spinners have been excellent today.
Sidra looks to heave the spinner’s first ball away into the leg side but swishes at Canberra air, the ball skidding through and crashing into the stumps.
17th over: Pakistan 101-6 (Sidra 6, Aliya 34) Fives wides against Brunt, for the second time this innings. A couple of balls later there’s short wide one that Aliya happily slaps away for four through point, and she then heaves for a couple more. An inside edge runs away for another boundary off the last. Slightly ragged from Brunt that, all in all, but if you’re going to go for 17 off an over now’s not a bad time to do it.
16th over: Pakistan 84-6 (Sidra 5, Aliya 23) Knight once more, and Aliya sweeps confidently to backward square for four. The No 7 has played a few shots that make you wonder what might have been had her teammates provided more of a platform.
15th over: Pakistan 78-6 (Sidra 4, Aliya 18) Shrubsole returns to the fray but this has the air of a practice match now. Aliya, who has put some of her colleagues higher up the order to shame, clubs a straight four off the last ball to keep things ticking over.
14th over: Pakistan 71-6 (Sidra 2, Aliya 13) Pace on the ball and Aliya uses it well, smashing Sciver back over her head for six. Beaumont is inches away from taking an incredible catch at point as Sidra cuts away towards the boundary.
13th over: Pakistan 62-6 (Sidra 0, Aliya 6) So Glenn finishes with figures of 4-0-15-3, the best of her fledgling international T20 career.
Glenn into the final over of her spell and the batting pair continue to nurdle around. Eventually Omaima opts to go on the attack, and can only loft the ball to point where Ecclestone, running back, makes a tricky catch look simple.
12th over: Pakistan 59-5 (Omaima 5, Aliya 2) Ecclestone again as England continue to strangle with spin. Aliya and Omaima keep their powder dry on this occasion, settling for singles where they can get them. Four from the over. Pakistan need 100 more, with eight overs to get them.
11th over: Pakistan 55-5 (Omaima 4, Aliya 1) Glenn continues. Shrubsole can’t quite get back as Omaima goes over the top of cover. Tidy again from Glenn, though.
10th over: Pakistan 51-5 (Omaima 1, Aliya 1) Pakistan are unraveling here and you sense this could be over quite quickly. Just one from the over. That’s wickets and runs.
England have another! Ecclestone turns one on to Nida’s front pad. It’s hitting the middle of the middle of middle stump, about halfway up. A desperation review can’t provide a reprieve.
9th over: Pakistan 50-4 (Omaima 1, Nida 5) Another accurate over from Glenn, who boasts figures of 2-0-8-2. The required rate has crept up towards 10 an over. England are very much in charge here.
Pakistan had shown signs of calm accumulation in the last over but a return to the big heaves brings another wicket. Iram skips down the track but can’t make contact with Glenn’s first ball and Pakistan are four down.
8th over: Pakistan 48-3 (Iram 4, Nida 4) Heather Knight opts to turn her arm over. A couple of loose balls give up only singles then there’s a wide for good measure. It’s better from that point, though, and from the last Nida chips towards Winfield at mid-off but the fielder puts down a dipping, awkward chance.
7th over: Pakistan 41-3 (Iram 1, Nida 1) Iram Javed gets off the mark with a single and Nide does likewise from the final ball of the over.
Time for some leg-spin: Sarah Glenn into the attack. Javeria plays a fourth wonderful shot – driving over couple for four – but next up she’s gone and so, you’d imagine, are Pakistan’s already fading hopes.
6th over: Pakistan 35-2 (Javeria 12, Nida 0) Brunt finishes the over with a couple of dots. Knight’s side are very mucn in charge here – Pakistan aren’t really giving the sense that they’re capable of chasing this down, certainly not in the face of a high-class England bowling attack.
Brunt returns. I went on a stag do with her brother a couple of years ago. I wish there was some wild tale I could tell on the back of that but I there isn’t really: that’s the whole anecdote. Bismah gets off the mark with a smart flick off the pads which runs down to fine leg for four but a couple of balls later she’s gone – an attempted ramp goes badly wrong and wicketkeeper Jones takes a simple catch.
5th over: Pakistan 30-1 (Javeria 12, Bismah 0) SophieEcclestone, the third best T20 bowler in the world in the ICC rankings, gets into the action early. Her first cracks Bismah on the pad, sparking a huge appeal. The umpire is unmoved, thanks to a little under-edge. Javeria then goes over-the-top, a skip down the track and a thwack to the mid-off boundary – that’s three wonderful shots she’s played.
4th over: Pakistan 24-1 (Javeria 8, Bismah 0) Nat Sciver enters the England attack. Javeria struggles to get her away – seven balls now without getting off the mark, make that eight – but finally latches on to a short one and pulls hard for a one-bounce four out at cow corner. And she follows that up with a beautiful drive through the off-side for four more. Cracking shot.
3rd over: Pakistan 16-1 (Javeria 0, Bismah 0) A captain’s innings required from Bismah Maroof then. She gets an early bonus thanks to five wides as Shrubsole completely loses her line.
A Shrubsole inswinger almost gets through Muneeba, who survives to hammer a powerful drive over mid on for four. But next up England have the breakthrough, this time the inswinger burrowing through Muneeba’s defences.
2nd over: Pakistan 7-0 (Javeria 0, Muneeba 6) It’ll be Katherine Brunt from the other end. Another uncertain prod from Muneeba, who has soaked up six balls for her solitary run so far. A big heave over midwicket next up though, brings Pakistan their first boundary. Six in all from the over.
1st over: Pakistan 1-0 (Javeria 0, Muneeba 1) Muneeba Ali faces Shrubsole first up. The bowler wobbles one onto from the left-hander’s outside edge but the ball drops a yard short of slip. Two balls later she repeats the trick. And immediately Pakistan’s task looks that much harder. Muneeba escapes to the other end. Javeria Khan, who played a key innings in the win over West Indies, plays a couple of nice cuts but picks out the point fielder on both occasions. A superb start from Shrubsole.
Right, the players are back out. Pakistan need 159. Here we go.
Whatever happens here, England’s batting order will be the subject of much debate over the weekend. There are differing theories about T20 orders I suppose, but I have to say I subscribe to the (simplistic perhaps) idea that you want your best players given the chance to face as many balls as possible. Which surely means a player capable of this moving back up the order:
So a disappointing end to the innings from England – just six runs from the final eight balls and a flurry of wickets. But that little collapse was rendered irritating rather than disastrous thanks to the efforts of Knight and Sciver earlier in the innings. England will be pretty confident of defending this total. And if they want to go further in the tournament, they pretty much have to.
20th over: England 158-7 (Ecclestone 2, Winfield 2) England can’t find the boundary so just six from the final over.
So England go into the final over with two batters yet to face at the crease. Not ideal. And this is why: Brunt skips down the track and can’t make contact. Nawaz collects her second stumping of the innings and England have lost three wickets for one run in the space of four balls.
19th over: England 152-6 (Brunt 0, Winfield 0) A brilliant knock from Knight and very much an over of two halves from Nida.
And the very next ball, Knight finds one of the boundary riders. Two in two balls!
The thus-far erratic Nida returns. A wide to start off with doesn’t bode well for Pakistan and a thumping six down the ground for six from Knight confirms the feeling. Beaumont reverse-sweeps for four more and with two balls to go England have 13 from the over. From the next, though, Beaumont picks out the fielder on the cow corner boundary, who takes a juggling catch. Then looks to have dropped it. Then juggles a bit more. And finally holds on.
18th over: England 139-4 (Beaumont 1, Knight 55) So the aforementioned Tammy Beaumont enters the fray with 13 balls left in the England innings. She gets off the mark with a single but that is an excellent effort from Aiman – six runs and a wicket from the over.
Aiman, with two overs to bowl, returns for the vital over 18/over 20 gig. And after restricting England to ones and twos, a slower ball does for Wilson.
17th over: England 133-3 (Wilson 19, Knight 53) Bismah again. Wilson attempts to smash a full toss into the stands at cow corner but with so little pace on the ball it drops a good 10 yards inside the rope. Wilson does find the boundary with a sweep next up though – nine from the over.
16th over: England 124-3 (Wilson 13, Knight 50) “Has anyone from the England camp explained the logic of having someone with a T20 hundred batting down at 6 when the top order is hardly firing? “ wonders Kevin Wilson. Well, I think we’ll see some changes to the order in the next game – Beaumont will surely move up to open.
Meanwhile, Baig returns for her final over with Pakistan needing a wicket or two to arrest England’s momentum. She’s so close to getting that wicket, Knight hammering a drive back towards the bowler, who reaches out a left hand but the ball fails to stick. Knight celebrates the reprieve with a swat through point for four then brings up her half century with a sweep for a single. It’s come off just 39 balls.
15th over: England 115-3 (Wilson 13, Knight 41) The Pakistan captain Bismah takes responsibility and brings her loopy leg-spinners into the attack. Not a ban move it turns out – just five singles from the over.
14th over: England 110-3 (Wilson 11, Knight 38) Wilson brings up the England 100 with a fine reverse sweep off Nida racing away to the boundary. And then it’s Knight’s turn for a let-off, her lofted slog-sweep dropped on the boundary. Nida needs all the help she can get too, as she’s bowling messily. Thirteen from the over and England are once more threatening to get away.
13th over: England 97-3 (Wilson 5, Knight 32) Sadia, in her final over, drags one down and Wilson pulls hard for a couple. And from the last the bowler repeats the offence, with Knight this time able to muscle the ball wide of mid off for four.
12th over: England 87-3 (Wilson 1, Knight 26) That was a huge wicket, with Sciver looking perfectly set and primed to accelerate. The onus falls on Knight now, and she’s grateful for a short wide one that is rightfully slapped away to the point boundary. And from the last Wilson gets a life, with Nawaz putting down an outside edge.
Aliya returns with her medium pace. The first is wide down the leg side but brilliantly pouched by the keeper Sidra Nawaz, who whips the bails off in a blink with Sciver unable to get her foot down in time.
11th over: England 81-2 (Sciver 36, Knight 21) Sadia continues and Knight wants to step on the accelerator, lofting the first ball of the over down the ground for four. The bowler responds well though, mixing up her flight and getting through the next five deliveries with only a couple of singles conceded.
10th over: England 74-2 (Sciver 35, Knight 16) Nida was despatched to all parts by Sciver in her opening over – can she fair better here? Indeed she can – five singles are all England can eek out on this occasion.
9th over: England 69-2 (Sciver 33, Knight 13) Sadia once more. She looks a bowler you could get after, always at risk at dragging down a delivery or two, but again proves tricky to get away. That is, until the fifth delivery, which Sciver punches wide of mid on for four despite the best attempts of the fielders in the deep.
8th over: England 62-2 (Sciver 28, Knight 11) Aliya Riaz into the attack, with England having taken only 12 from the past three overs. But this pair are the standout talents in the England side and find their mojo again here. Knight leans forward and drives sweetly through the covers for four, then dinks a little outside edge down to third man for another boundary. Ten from the over and effortlessly too.
7th over: England 52-2 (Sciver 27, Knight 2) Pakistan needed someone other than Baig to exert some control and they got it from Aiman last up. Sadia, the left-arm spinner, is charged with maintaining the momentum. A very neat start with a single off the first then a couple of dots but a half-tracker gets pulled out to the midwicket boundary for a couple. Nicely bowled otherwise though, four from the over, and Pakistan have edged themselves back into the game.
6th over: England 48-2 (Sciver 24, Knight 1) That brings the England captain to the crease. She scurries a single off the last to get under way but that’s a really strong return from Aiman. Just two from the over plus that wicket.
Wyatt has lived something of a charmed life here but there’s no surviving this time. Aiman returns and bowls short and wide but the England opener can only guide the ball into the hands of point (who is now unencumbered by the early evening sunshine).
5th over: England 46-1 (Wyatt 16, Sciver 23) Baig continues and England could be tempted to just see her off – her two overs have gone for 11, the other two 29. Sciver again beats the cover fielder, this time picking up three, then Wyatt is a whisker away from playing on. Six from another very fine over.
4th over: England 40-1 (Wyatt 14, Sciver 19) Spin for the first time as Nida Dar comes into the attack. Sciver – looking in ominously good touch – gets the scoop out and picks up four over the keeper’s head, scampers down the track and drives sweetly for four more, then punches through the covers for another.
3rd over: England 28-1 (Wyatt 14, Sciver 7) A big appeal as Wyatt is hit on the back thigh pad but this time there’s nothing doing for Pakistan. And a few singles are all England can add from another tidy Baig over.
2nd over: England 24-1 (Wyatt 14, Sciver 5) A huge let off for Wyatt here – she ships Aiman towards point, but the fielder seemed to lose it in the shaft of sunlight beaming across the Manuka Oval. Instead she picks up four runs. And this is a messy over from Aiman – a couple of wides keeps things ticking over for England, then Wyatt trots down the pitch and lofts over backward point for four. From the last there’s a little dab for four more and England, who could have been eight for two, collect 16 from the over.
1st over: England 8-1 (Wyatt 1, Sciver 4) So Jones departs rather unhappily and, after a duck against Thailand, must now be feeling a bit of pressure. More importantly England are under early pressure – Sciver settles thing by caressing her first ball through the covers for four.
Diana Baig opens the bowling for Pakistan and finds a nice bit of swing through the air. Wyatt opens the face and runs the ball down to third man to get England off the mark. And it’s a no ball, meaning Amy Jones’s first delivery is a free hit … but she steps to the off and swishes without making contact. Jones does get off the mark from the next though, squeezing the ball into the leg side for a couple. Next up though she’s trapped in front, playing across the line and the finger goes up. Jones reviews but the ball is clipping the bails.
The players are out, the anthems are sung and we’re about to get under way.
A few stories to catch up on while we await the start of play:
Related: More than 50,000 tickets already sold for Women's World T20 final at MCG
Related: Former FA chief executive Ian Watmore to become ECB chairman
Related: England's Rory Burns quits football until cricket playing days are over
Pakistan win it and opt to have a bowl.
Hello all. So here we go again – England face a World Cup fixture with no margin for error. Heather Knight’s side bounced back from their opening defeat to South Africa with a resounding win over Thailand but cannot afford another slip-up against a Pakistan team who were impressive in their surprise win over West Indies. Victory for either side would be a huge stride towards the semi-finals.
England will be the favourites but Danni Wyatt is taking nothing for granted. “They’re a quality side,” she said. “We’ve played a lot against them recently in Malaysia, so personally I know what I’m going to come up against and it’s about being clear and getting ready to face that first ball. I think everybody’s ready to go and hopefully get another win under our belt.”
Continue reading...