Pakistan were denied a shock victory over England when their Women’s World Cup match was washed out as Colombo continued to be drenched by unrelenting monsoon showers on Wednesday.
Pakistan, rooted to the bottom of the points table and still searching for their first win in the eight-nation tournament, were left cursing their luck after putting England through the wringer with a brilliant bowling display that restricted the four-time champions to 133-9 in a game reduced to 31 overs.
Chasing a revised target of 113, Pakistan’s openers looked in fine touch, coasting to 34-0 in 6.4 overs, before the heavens opened once more and the game was abandoned at 9:58pm local time.
Pakistan’s bowlers had their tails up from the outset, with captain Fatima Sana leading from the front.
She swung the ball into the batters and picked up three early wickets before returning after the rain break to snare another, finishing with eye-catching figures of 4-27.
“We showed today that we can beat any team. Disappointed about the rain. We were really good with the ball and the bat and we would have been happy with a win,” Sana said.
England had never lost to Pakistan in 16 previous ODIs and it needed bad weather to preserve that record.
It was the third rain-affected game in Colombo this World Cup after Australia and Sri Lanka split points without a ball bowled and Sri Lanka’s fixture against New Zealand also ended in a washout on Monday.
Credit: supersport.com
