Pakistan crush West Indies by 8 wickets in Women’s T20 World Cup opener
- 26 Feb 2020
Pakistan claimed the scalp of West Indies as they outplayed the 2016 winners by eight wickets to begin their ICC Women’s T20 World Cup campaign with an eight-wicket victory in Canberra, Australia, on Wednesday.
Faced with a target of 125 runs, Pakistan finished with a score of 127-2 with 10 balls to spare in their allotted 20 overs.
Sharp new ball bowling from Diana Baig exposed a struggling Windies top order and only when Stafanie Taylor and Shemaine Campbelle were at the crease did they look fluent in posting 124/7.
Pakistan openers Javeria Khan and Muneeba Ali controlled the chase expertly and put on 57, with captain Bismah Maroof's unbeaten 38 steering her side to a seventh win at the Women's T20 World Cup.
The Windies top order faltered and found themselves three wickets down within seven overs for the second game in succession.
Hayley Matthews, star of the 2016 Women's T20 World Cup Final, fell for a diamond duck as Diana got the game's first ball to move in the air and rap the opener on the pads.
Lee-Ann Kirby's stand-and-deliver approach yielded three quick boundaries as she lofted Aiman Anwar for four over mid-off and then cover in the fourth over.
But she perished on the first ball of the fifth, Diana enticing another heave from the opener who skewed a catch to Muneeba Ali running back at point, departing for 16.
Deandrea Dottin's troubled stay at the crease ended when she tried to drag Nida Dar from outside off-stump over long-on and could only pick out Iram Javed, departing for one from 10 balls.
Experienced duo Taylor and Campbelle steadied the ship, the captain improving on the disappointing strike rotation last time before Campbelle cleared the midwicket rope of Dar.
Pakistan were untroubled in the closing stages with Bismah hitting the winning boundary.
Brief scores: West Indies 124/7 in 20 overs (Shemaine Campbelle 43, Stafanie Taylor 43; Diana Baig 2-19);Pakistan 127/2 in 18.2 overs (Bismah Maroof 38 not out, Javeria Khan 35; Stafanie Taylor 1-20)
Agencies
