Pakistan women’s two-game winning streak has been broken by the Netherlands in the ongoing ICC Women’s Emerging Nations Trophy. Pakistan, who began the campaign strongly by defeating Bangladesh and Thailand, suffered an eight-wicket defeat against the Dutch on Sunday.
Netherlands pacers restrict Pakistan to 126
Pakistan batters had a hard time staying at the crease as Netherlands pacers pinned them against the wall early in the game. They lost two wickets within the powerplay, scoring only 35 runs before the field restrictions were lifted. In total, only two batters, including captain Muneeba Ali and Gull Feroza, could get into the 20s, with no one crossing the 30-run mark. Feroza remained unbeaten until the end and shared a quick partnership with Waheeda Akhtar, but with the other batters not chipping in the same manner, they were fighting a lost battle.
Throughout the game, Pakistan’s highest run-scoring in a single over was just 10 runs, which came on only two occasions. The pacers Iris Zwilling and Frederique Overdijk shared five wickets between them as Pakistan were all dismissed for a dismal total of 126 runs.
Netherlands chase down the target with ease
Netherlands, in response, went all guns blazing from the first over. Going at a run rate of nearly 10, the Dutch wrote on the wall that the game was theirs from the start. By the time their first wicket fell in the eighth over, with Tuba Hassan dismissing captain Babette de Leede, Netherlands were just 44 runs away from the win. Hassan dismissed the other opener, Heather Siegers, in the next over.
The departure of both openers did slow down the run rate somewhat, but a low target, as well as Netherlands’ early onslaught, meant it would not cost them dearly in the bigger picture.
A boundary off Nashra Sandhu in the fifteenth over by Sterre Kalis closed the affair rather quickly. With this, the Netherlands went to the top of the table, winning two of their two games so far.
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