England beat Pakistan comfortably by 75-runs in the opening game of the 3-match ODI series at Kuala Lumpur. Now England are firmly placed at number two in points table of the 2017-2020 ICC Women’s championship. That means it is now almost clear that they will directly qualify for the ODI World Cup 2021. This was an inspiring win for England as they had a very disappointing Ashes Women’s ODI series in July 2019. They had lost 0-3 to Australia in that series.
Star of the show was Danni Wyatt who scored her maiden ODI hundred. Her opening partner Tammy Beaumont also reached to 3-figure mark for 7th time in this format. Wyatt scored 110 (95) and Beaumont scored 107 (141).
Their opening stand of 188 totally took the game away from Pakistan’s reach. In the partnership, Danni Wyatt was the aggressor as she used her successful T20 formula to get to her maiden ODI hundred in just 86 balls.
It’s quite ironical that a batsman with 2 T20I hundreds, had only one 50+ score in 71 ODI games before, though of late Danni hardly got a chance to bat in top order and this time she cashed in this opportunity with both hands.
On the other hand, Tammy Beaumont anchored the innings perfectly to take them to a safe total. In the end, Pakistan pushed them back with regular strikes and didn’t let them score freely. Though the damage was already done by top-3 which took them to a total of 284/6 in 50 overs.
In the chase, Pakistan put up some resistance as they first time crossed 200-mark against England. However, England was in the driver’s seat throughout the game.
In the leadership of skipper Bismah Maroof (69 runs from 94 balls), Pakistani middle order put up some fight after losing 2 wickets at a score of only 5 runs on the board.
Dismissing Nida Dar, England’s Katherine Brunt reached the milestone of 150 ODI wickets. She became the first-ever English bowler to reach this figure.
Kate Cross claimed the third 4-fer of her career including the big wicket of Bismah Maroof. Debutant leg-spinner Sarah Glenn also chipped in with 2 wickets.
Pakistan was all out on 209 runs in 44.4 overs.
Pakistan currently at 5 still have an outside chance to claim a direct qualification for World Cup 2021. But they need to put up a much-improved performance. Both sides will play the 2nd game on 12th December at the same ground.
Related Reading:
- Vitality T20 Blast 2020 Points Table and Match Results
- Vitality T20 Blast 2020 All Teams & Full Squads
- IPL 2020 All Teams, Players, Full Squads, Complete Schedule, Past Winners
- Vitality T20 Blast 2020 Full Match Schedule & Past Winners
- CPL 2020 – Where to watch? (TV / Livestream Options)
- CPL 2020 Points Table, Match Schedule & Results, All Past Winners
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