Christchurch: Defending champions England put up a clinical all-round performance to beat Pakistan by nine wickets in their must-win ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup match on Thursday. With the win, England (6 points and NRR 0.778) have displaced India (6 points and NRR 0.768) to take fourth place on the table. Both England and India have one game each remaining, with India’s fixture against South Africa while England will play Bangladesh to secure a semi-final berth. If either India or England lose their match, West Indies (7 points and NRR -0.885) will join Australia and South Africa in the knockout stages. Meanwhile, Pakistan, who sit at the bottom with 2 points from 6 matches, have mathematically crashed out of the tournament with one game to go. Danni Wyatt (76 not out) stepped up and registered her first fifty in the ODI World Cup as England romped home with 184 balls and nine wickets to spare in their must-win clash against Pakistan. It was the bowlers who set up the win for England, with Katherine Brunt and Sophie Ecclestone picking up three wickets each to restrict Pakistan to 105. The veteran pacer got the early wickets to peg Pakistan back while the spinner cleaned up the lower-order. Sidra Ameen (32) and Sidra Nawaz (23) were the only two batters for Pakistan who put up scores of 20-plus as the rest of the batting order had no answer to the England bowlers. Brief scores: Pakistan 105/10 in 41.3 overs (Sidra Ameen 32; Katherine Brunt 3/17, Sophie Ecclestone 3/18) lost to England 107/1 in 19.2 overs (Danni Wyatt 76 not out, Heather Knight 24 not out; Diana Baig 1/14) by 9 wickets. UNI PN
