England registered a thumping 53-run win versus Pakistan in their Group B encounter at Potchefstroom. England won the toss and decided to bat first.
Losing Liberty Heap early on, skipper Grace Scrivens and Niamh Holland built on a partnership where they accelerated but their wings were clipped when Scrivens was dismissed for 24. Getting dismissed for similar scores of 13, Holland and Pavely were sent back to the pavilion. Seren Smale and Ryana MacDonald-Gay then took matters into their own hands and stitched a massive partnership. With both of them doing the bulk of scoring runs and the lower middle order not contributing except for the last-minute fireworks of Hannah Baker, England ended up with 156/7 on the board. Areesha Noor, Zaib-un-Nisa, and Anosha Nasir with their two scalps respectively put in commendable performances.
Pakistan did not have the best of the starts as they lost their last match hero, Eyman Fatima for 5 and Warda Yousaf also getting dismissed for 8. Shawaal Zulfiqar’s slow 25 off 32 was not effective and after her dismissal, Laiba Nasir also did not make quite the impression. Syeda Aroob Shah got 34 but the constant loss of wickets and her striking was not enough as in the 16 overs mark, they were 78/5. Aliza Khan and Areesha Noor ended with 16* and 12* but Pakistan lost by a massive margin of 53 runs hurting their NRR. Sophia Smale with her two scalps was ably backed by Hannah Baker and Grace Scrivens to restrict the challenging Pakistani batters.
🏴England U19 won by 53 runs
🏴England U19: 156-7 (20)
Grace Scrivens: 24(21)
Seren Smale: 37(33)
Zaib-un-Nisha 2-24🇵🇰Pakistan U19: 103-5 (20)
Aroob Shah: 34 (36)
Shawaal Zulfiqar: 23 (30)
Sophia Smale 2-10#CricketTwitter #U19T20WorldCup pic.twitter.com/LfXQHjIzdt— Female Cricket (@imfemalecricket) January 17, 2023
Seren Smale for her knock of 37 was adjudged the ‘Player of the Match’.
Brief Scores: ENG 156/7 (S Smale 37, R MacDonald-Gay 35; Zaib-un-Nisa 2/24, A Nasir 2/20) defeated PAK 103/5 (SA Shah 34, S Zufliqar 25; S Smale 2/10) by 53 runs
I am a first year postgraduate student pursuing a MA in Media and Communication Studies at Christ University, Bengaluru. I am a podcaster, blogger and an avid cricket fan. When not glued to cricket matches, you can find me submerged in books and thinking about cricket all the time.