Diana Baig, Javeria Khan star as Pakistan beat West Indies to blow Group B wide open
Sloppy performance by the West Indians on the field makes Pakistan's job easier
Sloppy performance by the West Indians on the field makes Pakistan's job easier
Scorer: M Venkat Raghav | Commentator: @PeterDellaPenna
So that result puts four teams level on two points in Group B, but England miles ahead of Pakistan, West Indies and South Africa on net run rate after the thrashing England gave Thailand today. That's it from me tonight on commentary. Stay tuned for the report from Sruthi Ravindranath and other bytes from Andrew McGlashan on the ground in Canberra. Come back tomorrow for another doubleheader at the Women's T20 World Cup beginning with India v New Zealand in Melbourne followed by Australia v Bangladesh in Canberra. I'm Peter Della Penna, take care!
Pakistan captain Bismah Maroof: "It was a great win to get momentum for us in the World Cup. We picked wickets at crucial times when we needed it and restricted them. The wickets put them under pressure. It was great and how our openers played, credit to them. We as a team know we are smart cricketers and we need to stay with what our strengths are. Nida just stayed in the middle with me to rotate the strike and stay to the end. We needed momentum and I think this win will boost our team."
West Indies captain Stafanie Taylor: "When you look at the type of batters we have, I reckon we should be scoring over 150 and so far we haven't been doing that. Batters need to be accountable and take that responsibility. We spoke about the first six and how hard we want to go and having that belief and rotating the strike. I think those are combinations where we are lacking and if you see today it was really hard to build a partnerships. It was nice for Shemaine [Campbelle] and I to get that total on the board but we keep losing early wickets and we just couldn't propel. I think the bowling has been terrific. The pacers have been really good, not to take anything away from the Pakistanis. They played terrific. But there is room for improvement. As batters we need to come out and show our prowess."
MikeB: "Really impressed with Bismah, she was struggling at the start but has shown the value of being able to stick it out and now reaping the rewards with a well timed chase and her strike rate up to almost run-a-ball."
Javeria Khan is named Player of the Match for her 35 off 28 that boosted Pakistan at the start of the chase setting up a famous win, their highest successful chase against West Indies: "I am really surprised that I got this award. I think more than me, Diana [Baig] deserves it because she gave us the start which we never expected and I think she deserved it. It was a total team effort. I am pleased the way Nida and Bismah handled the pressure and finished it off. We have worked over the past few years on our fielding, running between the wickets and shot selection. We have worked hard and it paid off today. Under the lights, it was good to bat. My aim was to charge because sometimes it gets tough so I thought of taking charge and give ample amount of time to the middle order so they can take their time."
10:00 pm Bismah Maroof was crawling along at a strike rate of 50 through the first half of her innings but ramped up the pace in the last 17 balls to finish at better than a run a ball. West Indies were hopelessly sloppy in the field. No sense of urgency, no discipline and paid the price as Pakistan's opening pair of Javeria Khan and Muneeba Ali set the platform for Bismah to finish it off in style.
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