Finally World no. 3 New Zealand tasted victory in the tournament by defeating Pakistan in one sided affair in Providence Stadium , Guyana. Both teams were already out of race for the Semi Finals with India and Australia getting qualified from Group B. So it was a fight for pride.
Earlier Pakistan won the toss and opted to field first . Both teams came on the field with one change in their previous Playing 11’s.
Teams:
Pakistan Women (Playing XI): Javeria Khan(c), Ayesha Zafar, Omaima Sohail, Bismah Maroof, Nida Dar, Muneeba Ali, Aliya Riaz, Sana Mir, Sidra Nawaz(w), Aiman Anwer, Nashra Sandhu
New Zealand Women (Playing XI): Suzie Bates, Sophie Devine, Amy Satterthwaite(c), Katey Martin(w), Maddy Green, Jess Watkin, Bernadine Bezuidenhout, Leigh Kasperek, Hannah Rowe, Amelia Kerr, Lea Tahuhu
Sophie Devine and Suzie Bates opened the innings for the White ferns. Lot of action was noticeable from the very first over with a run out chance coming for the Pakistan team but dive saves Suzie Bates. With nothing to lose both batters punished the bowlers specially when width was offered ,they took 39 from the powerplay without any loss. However the 59 runs partnership ended when Bates gave an easy catch to bowler Nida Dar in the 9th over. Captain Amy Satterthwaite came one down and now she played the supporting role while Devine was the one who was aggressive . Everything was going great from New Zealand’s point of view before Nashra Sandhu took a stunner near the ropes to get rid of dangerous Sophie Devine. Up next was wicket keeper batswoman Katey Martin , she alongside with Amy made ball a run partnership of 37 runs . At the end of 18th over New Zealand were on 120-2 and they were looking to accelerate in the final two overs and in this very attempt Amy Satterthwaite got stumped by Sana Mir on first ball of 19th over . However Katey hit a six and a four on two successive balls of Mir and despite losing 3 more wickets they reached 144 runs mark.
Captain Javeria Khan and Ayesha Zafar began the chase and there was a mix up on very first ball but unfortunately Bates missed the target and Javeria was safe. Javeria punished the short balls bowled by the bowlers ,she hit 3 boundaries in the 2nd over and Pakistan were on 31-0 at the end of 3rd over when Ayesha Zafar got caught behind the stumps on very next ball of Kasperek , initially umpire gave it not out and the decision was overturned by the review taken by New Zealand which clearly showed that ball touched Zafar’s gloves .
A quick 120km/hrs from Tahuhu bowled young sensation Omaima Sohail in the 5th over . However Pakistan were going at good run rate and they just needed to keep wickets in their hand and then Jess Watkin’s off spin changed the game , she took two quick wickets of experienced Bimah Maroof and then of in-form Javeria Khan. Pressure kept on mounting and Pakistan kept on losing their wickets and after the wicket of Nida Dar , the other batswomen fell like deck of cards , no one other than Aliya Riaz reached double digits and Amelia Kerr’s strikes in the end was enough to get Pakistan team all out on 90 runs.
New Zealand won the match by 54 runs .
BRIEF SCORES:
New Zealand : 144/6 in 20.0 Overs { Suzie Bates 35(31) , Sophie Devine 32(31) ;Aliya Riaz 2/29 }
Pakistan Women : 90/10 in 18.0 Overs { Javeria Khan 36(23) ; Jess Watkin 3/9 , Amelia Kerr 3/21 }
Jess Watkin was adjudged Player of the match for her 3 wicket haul.
New Zealand top 4 got the start but no one was able to make it big and hence the team just managed to get 144 runs .But their spinners did the job for them in the end to win this encounter easily. They will face Ireland in their last group match.
Whereas Pakistan batting woes continued , only Javeria Khan was impressive and none other was able to dominate the bowlers and with this loss their campaign at this World Cup ends.
