Yesterday night saw the second match of the three match T20I series between the England and Pakistan women’s sides. England had won the opener comfortably.
THE ENGLAND INNINGS
Natalie Sciver-Brunt returned to the England XI after missing the series opener. Diana Baig (the first name came about because her mother was a fan of Princess Diana) returned to the Pakistan XI. In spite of England’s dreadful start with the bat in the first game Heather Knight had no hesitation in opting to bat when she won the toss at Wantage Road. England were not entirely convincing, and for most of the innings it didn’t look like they would get much beyond 130. However 17 runs off the last five balls of the innings (Ecclestone scoring 7* off three balls and Danielle Gibson then hitting the last two balls of the innings for four and six to finish with 18* off 10 balls) pushed the total to 144.
THE PAKISTAN REPLY
Pakistan were soon 9-2, but then Sidra Ameen and Muneeba Ali had a respectable partnership. Ali gave Ecclestone a return catch which made the left armer, at a mere 25 years of age, England’s all time leading wicket taker in the format, surpassing Katherine Sciver-Brunt. All rounder Nida Dar (the overall all time leading wicket taker in the format) then fell LBW to Sarah Glenn for 1 and it was 41-4 and Pakistan were in deep trouble. Sidra Ameen and Aliya Riaz then put on 19 together before Sidra Ameen was run out after a mix-up and it was 60-5. From that point on it was all England. Heather Knight having noted that the spinners were proving more testing than the seamers gave Alice Capsey a bowl (though the skipper’s own off spin was not deployed). Capsey picked up the wickets of Aliya Riaz for 19 and Diana Baig for a duck in her first over, and Pakistan were 71-7, with Capsey looking at figures of 2-1. Sarah Glenn then accounted for Fatima Sana for 8 to make it 72-8. The ninth scraped at seven runs, three of them off Capsey, before Ecclestone got both the last two wickets in the space of three balls as Pakistan ended up 79 all out, beaten by 65 runs, a record margin for a T20I at the ground. Ecclestone finished with 3-11, while Capsey’s all round contribution of 31 and 2-4 won her the Player of the Match award. A full scorecard can be viewed here and amore detailed look at the numbers thrown up by this match can be seen here.
PHOTOGRAPHS
My usual sign off…
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