England will qualify for the World Cup semi-finals if they beat Bangladesh on Saturday; Heather Knight’s side beat Pakistan by nine wickets in Christchurch as Katherine Brunt and Sophie Ecclestone share six wickets and Danni Wyatt then scores an unbeaten 76; South Africa reaches the quarterfinals
Katherine Brunt took three wickets as England beat Pakistan convincingly
England are one win away from reaching the Women’s World Cup semi-finals after a nine-wicket thrashing of Pakistan in Christchurch.
Victory over Bangladesh this weekend will secure Heather Knight’s side a place in the last four and complete a turnaround after the defending champions lost their first three games.
Losses to Australia, the West Indies and South Africa left England’s hopes of reaching the knockout stage hanging in the balance, but they have since bounced back to defeat India, New Zealand and Pakistan, with their latest win taking them to fourth. place in the ranking, above India in net execution rate.
Pakistan took 105 in 41.3 overs at Hagley Oval as closer Katherine Brunt (3-17) made her first big impact of the tournament and spinner Sophie Ecclestone (3-18) also took three wickets.
Opener Danni Wyatt then punished Pakistan for dropping her in four with a dazzling 76 not out of 68 balls as England reached their target with 184 balls to spare – Wyatt shared an unbroken second wicket position on 87-of-89 deliveries with the captain Knight (24not out 36).
Thursday’s earlier collapse between South Africa and the West Indies means Proteas have teamed up with Australia to secure a place in the semi-final, with the bottom two places now really between England, the West Indies and India, although New Zealand have a small external opportunity.
England knew before facing Pakistan that wins in their last two games should be enough and they got off to a perfect start in Christchurch when Brunt scored from the first ball of the match.
Brunt had picked up just one wicket in his first five games but scored an immediate breakthrough on a green pitch at Hagley Oval when Nahida Khan (0) swingered past England captain Knight on the first slip.
Pakistan, who have now lost all 11 of their ODIs against England, then suffered two runs to drop to 33-3 and the innings never really recovered, with Brunt leaving them up 55-5 when he pinned Nida Dar (5) lbw and then bowled to Sidra. Amin with a ball that was nailed.
Left-arm spinner Ecclestone, now the competition’s leading wicket-taker with 11 in six games, bagged three of the last four wickets to fall.
There were nervous moments for England in the running chase, with Dar connecting a difficult chance into the ravine when Wyatt was in single figures and Tammy Beaumont covered lbw for two by the impressive Baig in the fifth over with the score at 20.
But Wyatt went on to hit 11 fours, including the match-winning cap off Fatima Sana Khan, reaching her third ODI fifty and first in the Cricket World Cup of 51 deliveries.
Player of the Match Wyatt comfortably surpassed her previous best score of the tournament, the 33 she had scored against the West Indies, and with her and Brunt now fit, England look a much more formidable team.
They will be the overwhelming favorites to beat Bangladesh and secure a place in the final four, with their hopes of successfully defending the title they won in dramatic style at Lord’s in the summer of 2017 still very much alive.
England’s last game of the group stage is against Bangladesh on Saturday (9:30pm CET, Sky Sports World Cup and YouTube) with a win enough to secure passage to the semi-finals.
Bangladesh will be in action from 9:30pm on Thursday when they take on unbeaten table leaders Australia, who have won each of their six matches so far.
