England outclass Pakistan in ICC Women's Cricket World Cup

England Women's Cricket team Thursday won match against Pakistan Women cricket team in ICC Women's Cricket World Cup with nine wicket in hands. Danni Wyatt played decisive innings. 

A dominating nine-wicket win for England! They've not just moved to six points on the table but also have a better net run rate than India and are placed at the fourth spot. It is a win that was well set up by Katherine Brunt, whose return to form would have pleased England, and Sophie Ecclestone, who was too good once again in the competition. Both Brunt and Ecclestone picked three wickets each to strike regularly and keep Pakistan to a mere 105. 

That's that! England win by 9 wickets, with more than 30 overs to spare. Short length delivery on leg, Wyatt tucks it down to fine leg for a four.

Katherine Brunt made a welcome return to form as she and Sophie Ecclestone claimed three wickets each and England ran through Pakistan to set themselves a target of just 106 to win their World Cup clash in Christchurch.
 
Brunt, the veteran England seamer, had taken just one wicket from five matches in the tournament before her 3 for 17 from eight overs helped contain Pakistan to 105 all out inside 42 overs, while Ecclestone took 3 for 18.

First half-century in #CWC22 for Danni Wyatt 👏 pic.twitter.com/vXanEjP8pp

— ICC Cricket World Cup (@cricketworldcup) March 24, 2022

Having won the toss and opted to bowl first on a Hagley Oval pitch boasting some live grass, England struck first ball via Brunt, who looked skywards with arms outstretched in what looked like sheer relief when she had Nahida Khan, called into the Pakistan side to open in place of Muneeba Ali, caught at slip by Heather Knight playing a long way forward to a full, late-moving outswinger that found the outside edge.
 
Pakistan then lost their captain, Bismah Maroof when she turned a full ball off Anya Shrubsole to the vacant region at backward square leg and called for a second run as wicketkeeper Amy Jones sprinted after the ball and fired it in sharply to the striker's end, where Sophia Dunkley was waiting to remove the bails with Bismah short of her ground.
 
That left Pakistan at 2 for 11 inside the first four overs and by the end of the powerplay, they had added just 17 more runs.
 
Omaima Sohail had a reprieve thanks to a communication breakdown as she attempted a lofted drive off Nat Sciver while Ecclestone and Dunkley waited for each other to claim the catch and the ball dropped safely between cover and mid-off.
 
There was no such luck for Omaima four balls later, however, when she went for a hurried single off Kate Cross as Tammy Beaumont swooped from mid-off and threw down the stumps at the non-striker's end with an excellent direct hit.
 
Sidra Ameen produced two glorious drives to the boundary either side of the V in the space of three Sciver deliveries but Pakistan were largely well contained, facing 18 scoreless balls and nine overs without a boundary before Ameen - having survived an England review for lbw off the previous delivery on umpire's call - threaded Cross through square leg for four, beating Ecclestone who ran round from fine leg and dived in vain.
 
In the meantime, Brunt struck again to remove Nida Dar, trying to sweep a full ball that struck low on the front pad directly in line.

South Africa make World Cup semis after match washed out

South Africa reached the semi-finals of the Women's Cricket World Cup on Thursday when rain washed out their crunch match against the West Indies in Wellington.

Both teams received a point from the abandoned fixture, putting South Africa second in the table to Australia and beyond the reach of their rivals for the playoff spots.

The West Indies can still make the top four but need results involving India and England to go their way.

A downpour delayed the start of the match in the New Zealand capital for more than four hours, then officials attempted to proceed with innings of 26 overs apiece.

But that was scrapped after 10.5 overs with South Africa 61-4 and looking to rebuild with Mignon du Preez unbeaten on 38 from 31 balls.

Chinelle Henry took 3-19 and West Indies captain Stafanie Taylor felt they were on top when play was called off.

"It's not the way we'd like (the match to end) but you can't do much about God's plan, it's something we can't control," she said.

South Africa captain Sune Luus said her players were "pumped" at having the chance to make the final for the first time after semi appearances in 2000 and 2017.

"Everyone's extremely excited and obviously very happy to be in the semi-finals," she said.