LAHORE/CANBERRA                    -              England women recorded a 42-run victory over Pakistan women in a Group B match of the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup played at the Manuka Oval, Canberra on Friday.

According to information made available here, Pakistan, chasing a 159-run target, were bowled out for 116 runs in 19.4 overs to hand England their second win of the tournament. Pakistan’s chase got off to a poor start as opener Muneeba Ali (10) fell in the third over. The women in green lost the crucial wicket of captain Bismah Maroof, who fell for four in the sixth over with the score on 35. Javeria Khan fell for 16 in the 7th over which left Pakistan reeling at 39-3.

Pakistan kept losing regular wickets before folding in 19.4 overs for 116 runs. All-rounder Aliya Riaz top-scored with a stroke-filled 41 off 33 balls, her innings included five fours and one six. For England Anya Shrubsole and Sarah Glenn took three wickets each whiel Katherine Brunt and Sophie Ecclestone took two wickets each.

Earlier put into bat first, England posted 158-7 on the board in 20 overs. Diana Baig dismissed English opener Amy Jones (2) on the fifth ball of the match while other opener Danni Wyatt fell for 16 to Aimen Anwar. Natalie Sciver hit five boundaries in her 36 that came off 29 balls before falling to Aliya Riaz. Captain Heather Knight was the top-scorer for England with 62 off 47 balls while Fran Wilson hit 22. For Pakistan, Aimen claimed three wickets for 30 while Nida Dar took 2-43. Pakistan women will now face South Africa in Sydney tomorrow (Sunday).

With her appearance in England’s encounter during the ICC Women’s T20 Cup 2020, Nida Dar became Pakistan’s third woman cricketer to have featured in 100 T20Is when Pakistan played England in their second Group-B fixture of the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup at the Manuka Oval, Canberra. Nida is the third Pakistan woman cricketer after current captain Bismah Maroof (107 matches) and former captain Sana Mir (106 matches) to achieve the milestone. The all-rounder started her T20I career in the 2010 edition of the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup and is the highest wicket-taker for Pakistan in the format with 94 wickets at an average of 17.76 and third highest run-getter with 1,104 runs at a strike-rate of 95.83.

Meanwhile in the second match of the day, South Africa crushed Thailand by a record margin to inch closer to the semi-finals of the Women’s Twenty20 World Cup on Friday. South Africa rode Lizelle Lee’s blistering century to post 195-3, the highest total in the history of the tournament, before crushing Thailand by a record 113 runs to go top of the group with their second victory in two matches. Lee smashed 101 off 60 balls and added 131 runs with Sune Luus (61 not out) to power South Africa to an imposing total before they returned to skittle out Thailand for 82 with five balls to spare.

SCORES IN BRIEF

England 158 for 7 (Knight 62, Aiman Anwer 3-30) beat Pakistan 116 (Shrubsole 3-25, Glenn 3-15) by 42 runs.

South Africa 195 for 2 (Lee 101, Luus 61*) beat Thailand 82 (Ismail 3-8, Luus 3-15) by 113 runs.