England thrashes Pakistan by 65 runs

NORTHAMPTON: England defeated Pakistan by a significant margin of 65 runs to win the second T20I match on Friday at the County Ground in Northampton. With this victory, the England women’s cricket team also secured the T20I series against Pakistan.

England won the toss and chose to bat first, setting a target of 145 runs at the expense of six wickets in 20 overs.

Read more: Boxing heavyweights Tyson Fury, Oleksandr Usyk set to clash in Riyadh

The victory was largely attributed to bowler Sophie Ecclestone, who delivered a historic performance on Friday. The International Cricket Council (ICC) previously declared her the “Emerging Player of the Year,” and she has certainly lived up to that title.

Ecclestone broke the record for the highest number of wickets taken by an England player in T20Is, surpassing Katherine Sciver-Brunt’s previous record of 114 wickets in only 80 matches.

The 25-year-old left-arm spinner claimed three wickets, giving away just eleven runs in her 2.5 overs. Her first wicket was Pakistan’s Muneeba Ali in the sixth over, and she concluded the innings by taking two more wickets in the 16th over.

Nat Sciver-Brunt and Alice Capsey scored 31 runs each for England, off 21 and 33 balls respectively. Similarly, Maia Bouchier scored 30 runs off 26 balls, propelling England to a total of 144 runs.

Pakistani bowlers put up a strong fight, with Nida Dar taking two wickets for 33 runs in her allotted four overs. Meanwhile, Saadia Iqbal and Diana Baig each clinched a single wicket, yielding a combined 44 runs. However, the efforts of the Pakistani bowlers were not enough.

The Pakistani batting lineup collapsed, managing only 79 runs in less than 16 overs before being all out. The highest scorer was Aliya Riaz with 19 runs, followed by Muneeba Ali with 18 runs, and Sidra Ameen with 11 runs.

Ecclestone was not the only standout performer for England. Alice Capsey took two wickets while yielding only four runs in her allotted two overs. Similarly, Sarah Glenn took two wickets while conceding ten runs in three overs.

Read more: Pakistan finalises squad for T20 World Cup

Alice Capsey was awarded the player of the match for her exceptional performance in both bowling and batting.

England now looks forward to a clean sweep with one match left at Headingley. The final T20 match will then be followed by the ODI series.