Pakistan Women look to learn from mistakes

While admitting the mistakes that caused their crushing 43-run defeat at the hands of the England Women, the Pakistan Women captain Sana Mir went on to express the hope that the team would learn from the their mistakes, and come back stronger during their two remaining group stage matches in the ongoing ICC Women’s World Twenty20 2012 in Sri Lanka.

“We did really well to restrict them to 133,” skipper Mir pointed out. “I thought we could have applied ourselves better with the bat. Once we lose too many wickets at the start, it just puts immense pressure on the middle-order.

“Hopefully we will rectify our mistakes and look to win the remaining two games, we can only go up from here.”

The first Group A match between the two teams, played at the Galle International Stadium on September 27, saw the Pakistan Women failing to follow up a decent bowling performance with an equally accomplished batting display, resulting in a 43-run victory for the England Women.

“We planned to attack the bowling in the Power Play overs,” said England Women skipper Charlotte Edwards when commenting on her team’s victory. “I think as the game progresses, we've seen spin play a major part, so before the pitch wore out, we wanted to get as much as possible.”

A superb half-century from Laura Marsh (54), in addition to a solid 102-run opening stand between Marsh and Edwards (45), proved the only highlight of the England Women’s innings, after the Pakistan Women won the toss and elected to field first. Sana Mir (4-0-20-2), Nida Dar (4-0-19-1), and Sadia Yousuf (4-0-22-1) all went on to ensure that the England Women were restricted to a total of 133.

However, the Pakistan Women were unable to chase down the target as the England Women’s spinners wreaked havoc on their batting order. Javeria Khan top-scored for the team with a paltry 23, but her efforts were unsupported by the remainder of the batting order. In the end, England's spinners Holly Colivn (3.4-0-9-4) and Danielle Hazell (4-0-19-2) succeeded in cutting the Pakistan Women off, all out, at 90, enabling their side to secure a comprehensive 43-run win.