Pakistan narrowly missed out on their maiden ODI success versus the English side at the Colombo venue on Wednesday, getting to an unbeaten 34 chasing a target recalculated by DLS totaling 113 runs ahead of heavy rainfall halted their hopes to achieve a milestone.
England's Batting Struggles
England's offensive play has faltered from one disaster to another during this World Cup – they had to be bailed out by Heather Knight versus Bangladesh and Nat Sciver-Brunt's performance against Sri Lanka – and here it appeared that their vulnerabilities would plague them again, as their innings fell apart to 79 for seven in the opening 25 overs.
Rain Delays and Recovery
Following an early weather interruption for about four hours, England returned to add 54 further runs – however, Pakistan's opening pair Ali and Sohail seemed to be handling easily the pursuit, aided by the absence of England's main bowlers Lauren Bell and Sophie Ecclestone because of illness. Solely more showers spared England embarrassment.
"Pakistan delivered exceptional bowling and made it really hard for us to gain any momentum in the game,” the England captain the captain commented during the broadcast. “We weren’t good enough and we’ll hold our hands up. The team is preparing effectively and I guess it’s about finding a way to transfer that to matches.”
Tournament Implications
The no-result indicates that England stay on track to reach the knockout stage as long as they win one out of their remaining three group matches against India, Australia and New Zealand.
Playing Surface and Bowling Excellence
This competition has thus far been a spinner’s paradise, however in this match it was significant swing which caused problems to the England top order, post substantial precipitation a day before that abandoned the latter part of Sri Lanka’s match against New Zealand. Pakistan's emerging leader Sana bowled an outstanding spell with figures of 5-1-19-3, comprising a wicket-taking maiden first up, bowling Amy Jones between bat and pad using an inswinging delivery.
Pivotal Events and Decision Review
Heather Knight once again saved herself with a timely DRS review against Sana that was going past leg stump, but then the Pakistani skipper to claim two scalps in the next over with two more swinging balls – including one that the captain deflected onto to her stumps, and another that hit Knight right in front.
Before this, Tammy Beaumont had opted not to play against Diana Baig and got bowled by a delivery that came back which clipped the top of her off-stump, while it was the spin from the left side by Sadia Iqbal which did for both Dunkley and Lamb.
Event Planning Issues
Doubts might emerge regarding the choice to organize a portion of the tournament in the Colombo venue during monsoon season, since this represents the third washout on this pitch – however England will merely experience relief as they move on to Indore.
