England overcame sloppy play to record a 37-run victory over Pakistan in the first of a three-match Derby series one-day international.
None of England’s batsmen scored more than 44 runs, posting 243 for 9 in 50 overs. Meanwhile, England conceded 40 extra points due to Pakistan’s counterattack. This is a team record in women’s ODI cricket.
Amy Jones also missed two chances from behind the stumps, but despite the mistakes England ultimately won and maintained their unbeaten record against Pakistan in ODI cricket.
Sophie Ecclestone took 3-26 to take her tally to 98 in ODIs, two wickets away from the fastest century in the format, and needs two more in the next match to beat Australia’s record of 64, set by Kathleen Fitzpatrick.
The two teams will travel to Taunton on Sunday for the second ODI with England aiming to record their second win of the series after a 3-0 win in the last T20 match.
Sunday, May 26th, 10:30 AM
England’s top batting line-up, who came to bat after the toss, struggled to bowl smoothly against Pakistan’s off-pace bowlers, but in the ninth innings, left-arm spinner Nashra Sandhu (2 wins, 41 losses) was introduced, and Maia Boucher (17) scored the first point lbw.
Tammy Beaumont (33 years old) was also held in check by Umm-e-Hani (2 wins, 43 losses), and England captain Heather Knight was dismissed twice in the 0 and 18 innings in consecutive innings which ultimately led to 29. It disappeared due to a loss.
Nat Sciver-Brunt (31) also started but struggled to improve afterwards and was dropped by Aliya Riaz (2-24) to leave England at 118-4 before Alice Capsey (44) and Amy Jones (37) bounced back with a 67-run partnership for the fifth wicket.
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Alice Capsey falls short of her first ODI half-century for England as she is caught and bowled by Nashra Sandhu
Kapsey’s performance was the best of his career in ODI cricket but the 19-year-old was given an easy return catch by Nashra, falling six short of his maiden fifty.
After that, Nida Dar (3-56) broke through the lower order of the batting line-up, and England were left short of hitting all of their 50 overs.
England are unbeaten in their last 12 ODI encounters with Pakistan and would have been confident of defending a relatively modest score, but their handling of the ball was erratic, especially in the early stages of the chase, and they were beaten in the first 15 overs. There were 17 wideouts.
During that period, Lauren Bell (2-42) at least picked up Sidra Amin (2-0), who was caught up shortly after Jones dropped her by the same score, but looked to be the breakthrough for England. It was Ecclestone’s introduction in the 16th over. their sleep.
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Sophie Ecclestone picked up the wicket of Ayesha Zafar, her second wicket of the match, reducing Pakistan to 79-3.
The left-arm spinner got both Sadaf Shamas (24) and Ayesha Zafar (8) out in the third over to take Pakistan to 79-3, but Pakistan’s batting line-up remained undiminished.
Muneeb Ali (34) was dropped by Jones for 14, but with good support from captain Nida Dar (26) and great contribution from Aliya Riaz (21), Pakistan were able to score just 1 per ball in the remaining 16 overs. With less than 95 points required and six wickets still remaining, the hosts would have been a bit worried.
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Pakistan were reduced to 149 for 5 when captain Nida Dar was caught in the deep by Tammy Beaumont off a Charlie Dean delivery.
However, in the next match Charlie Dean (2-39) took Nida. Suddenly all three wickets came close to over and the visitors’ hopes of an upset disappeared.
Pakistan were 34 runs short at 206-9 after 50 overs, with Kate Cross (2-46) returning late on to score twice.
Knight: England’s spirited performance
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England captain Heather Knight admitted their first ODI win against Pakistan could only be described as “sloppy” and is targeting improvement in the second ODI on Sunday.
England captain Heather Knight:
“It was a terrible performance. We could have done better. There were too many extras, but at the end of the day we got the job done.
“It’s going to be hard to push through that wicket,” Tammy thought. [Beaumont] Not only does it set the tempo very well; [Alice] Capsy, but there was a lot that could be sorted out.
“I’ve been talking a lot about finding the tempo in ODI cricket and the longer we do things the better we will be.”
“There was a lot of stop-start stuff and one batsman is going to want to dominate and we needed to be more organised in the field.”
Ecclestone: Great to get three wickets
Man of the match, Sophie Ecclestone, England (3-26):
“It was cold outside but it’s great to get three wickets and get the win. I just tried to keep bowling my best ball for longer,” he said.
“I don’t think we got enough runs. We should have gotten more runs. We wanted to take wickets and we did that.”
Nida: “I need to improve my batting”
Pakistan captain Nida Dar:
“I think our bowlers bowled very well and we were expecting England to score 270 but we restricted them to 250 so that was really good.
“The game wasn’t over at half-time. I told the team we need to build more partnerships because that’s where we’re still lacking. We’ll talk again and come up with a plan. The rest is… Just finish the game.”
Watch the second ODI between England and Pakistan live from Taunton on Sunday from 10.30am (first pitch at 11am) on Sky Sports Cricket. Also stream on NOW.
England vs Pakistan ODI Series Match Schedule – Live on Sky Sports
May 23rd: First Women’s One Day International – England win by 37 runs
May 26: 2nd Women’s One Day International – Taunton, 11am
May 29th: 3rd Annual Women’s One Day International – Chelmsford, 1pm
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