On a gloomy day at Leicester, the last group-stage match of the World Cup went right down to the wire, with Pakistan eventually bowled out for 206, just 16 runs short of their target. Chasing 222, and with 22 runs needed from the last 5 overs, Pakistan’s Asmavia Iqbal fought tooth and nail to get her side over the line, but was eventually left stranded on 38* after number 11 Sadia Yousaf was bowled by Sri Lankan captain Inoka Ranaweera in the 47th over. For Sri Lanka, the star was Dilani Manodara, who hit 84 - her best performance in international cricket - and finished as the day’s top scorer. Pakistan had started their run chase at a rather sedate pace, hitting just 33 runs off the 10 over powerplay, including playing out two maidens. They also lost early wickets, with Chandima Gunaratne (Player of the Match for her 4-41) removing both openers - Nahida Khan bowled trying to cut, and Ayesha Zafar getting a leading edge to Chamari Atapattu at cover. But a thrilling...
South Africa took a significant step towards World Cup semi-final qualification, humiliating the West Indies as they bowled them out for just 48 runs at Leicester CCC. South Africa won the toss and chose to bowl on a slightly chilly morning at Grace Road, fielding an unchanged side. Meanwhile West Indies made 3 changes from the side that lost to Australia - bringing in all-rounder Kyshona Knight, and handing debuts to 16-year-old fast bowler Qiana Joseph and opening batsman Reniece Boyce. Hayley Matthews was the first wicket to fall - after swatting Ismail for 4 in her opening over, the South African quick got her revenge in her next over as the West Indian opener played around a delivery coming in to her legs and was hit on the back pad, given out LBW by ex-England umpire Sue Redfern. This brought Stafanie Taylor in at 3 who went following a similar pattern - after timing Ismail for 4 through midwicket, she was then then clean bowled the very next ball, putting the West Indies i...
England edged a little further up the Women's World Cup standings with a very comfortable and professional victory over Sri Lanka at a sun-drenched Taunton, in front of the best crowd (around 3,500) of the tournament to date. Taunton really is the ideal setting for women's cricket. It is the ambiance and the friendliness of the ground that make it work, which means the punters enjoy their day and they keep coming back. It helped, of course, that England were playing, and it helped even more that they are playing confident winning cricket. After the game skipper Heather Knight said that she was initially slightly disappointed to have let Sri Lanka put 204/8 on the board, after they had won the toss and decided to bat. Through some disciplined bowling and some decent catching from Sarah Taylor and Fran Wilson, England had reduced Sri Lanka to 145/7, but 8th wicket pair Ranasinghe (26) and Kanchana (34*) frustrated England for another 10 overs and added another 45 runs to the ...
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