Despite being eliminated from the Women’s World T20, New Zealand defeated Pakistan by 54 runs in a virtual dead rubber yesterday at the Providence to secure their first win of the tournament.
After the power outage at the Guyana National Stadium forced the scorers to use a white flag to signal the start of the match, New Zealand were off, scoring 144-6 when they were sent into bat. They then restricted Pakistan to 90 all out from 18 overs in the process, breaking their seven-match losing streak.
The White Ferns dropped Anna Peterson and promoted Sophie Devine to open with Suzie Bates which bore fruit as the pair shared in a 59-run opening stand, their most successful of the tournament.
The pair rotated the strike well to get 39 runs from the power play but Bates, the highest run getter in the format in an attempt to press on was on the back foot looking to cut but only managed to push it back to Nida Dar who did not fumble and removed the number one ranked batter for 35. Her knock included five fours but left her four runs short of becoming the first woman to 3000 runs in the format. The Kiwis worked their way to 66 at the halfway stage.
Devine soon followed after holing out to Nashra Sandhu for 32 off the bowling of Aiman Anwer but Sandhu was unlucky when bowling her slow left arm with two catches being put down in her third over effectively giving Amy Satterthwaite and Katey Martin a life each and bringing up their team’s 100.
The two dropped catches allowed the pair to share a 37-run stand for the third wicket until Satterthwaite chipped down the track to off spinner, Sana Mir’s first delivery of the penultimate over and completely missed the ball to allow Sidra Nawaz to execute the stumping of the captain for 26.
Mir also accounted for Martin, who made 29 from just 23 balls in the same over that went for 13 runs.
Pakistan picked up three wickets in as many deliveries as Aliya Riaz accounted for Leigh Kasperek and Jess Watkin who were bowled and caught at deep mid-wicket respectively in the first two balls of the 20th over.
Pakistan were off to a flyer with Devine being peppered for three boundaries and Amelia Kerr receiving the same treatment at the hands of Javeria Khan. However, Kasperek, with her off break introduced for the first time halted proceedings with the wicket of Ayesha Zafar for eight in an attempted sweep that was originally given not out but upon review, the replays showed the ball bouncing off her gloves and popping into the hands of Martin fielding up under the stumps.
Lea Tahuhu ensured Umaima Sohail’s poor run continued as the pace had the Pakistani climbing on her toes but unable to connect, resulting in the ball carting into her stumps.
Nevertheless, Pakistan enjoyed their highest opening stand of 31 and their highest power play score of the tournament reaching 48-2 after six overs.
Off breaking 20 year old, Watkin was spot on, denting the progression of the Pakistani middle order with the wicket of Khan for 36 from 23 balls, including six boundaries as well as Nida Dar and Muneeba Ali cheaply. In the process, Watkins finished with career best figures of 3-9. Walkin stated that the wicket favored her type of bowling after switching to spin only five years ago.
The Kiwis pressed on with a mix up resulting in the run out of Riaz for 12 while Mir handed Bates her 52 catch of her T20i career.
The Kiwi skipper said it was refreshing to get a win, noting that it was the unsuccessful experiment at the top of the order that reverted them back to their usual openers while Pakistan’s captain blazed her side’s sloppy fielding, saying probably 120 was a score they could have been comfortable chasing.
