The Aussie women secured another important win in the ICC Women’s World Cup, emphatically beating Pakistan by seven wickets. It was a stroll in the park for the favourites, as Pakistan failed to put up a big enough total on the board, which the Aussies chased down with more than 15 overs to spare.
Pakistan captain Bismah Maroof and Aliya Riyaz did have a decent partnership, but neither of the two could accelerate in the latter half of the innings, which meant that the Aussies restricted them to a disappointing 190 despite batting the entire 50 overs. The target of 191 was not at all challenging as Alyssa Healy starred in the chase, scoring 72 to give the Australians a comfortable win, their second of the tournament, after they first beat arch-rivals England by 12 runs.
Aussie skipper Meg Lanning won the toss and decided to put the Pakistanis into bat. It was a rocky start for the Pakistan side, as they lost both their openers off successive deliveries, as both Sidra Ameen and Nahida Khan departed for single-digit scores. There was more to come from the Aussie bowlers, as they picked up two more quick wickets, leaving Pakistan in deep trouble at 44/4, when Aliya Riyaz joined forces with captain Bismah Maroof in the middle.
Riyaz and Maroof did rebuild the Pakistan innings with a 99-run partnership, but the runs came at quite a sluggish rate, as the pair took more than 33 overs to do so. The Pakistan batters just could not seem to be able to get the ball away to the fence, and the partnership was broken when Riaz was dismissed for a gritty 53. Maroof stayed until the end of the innings, and finished on 78 in 122 deliveries, as the Pakistan innings closed on 190/6.
The target of 191 was not going to be too difficult for the Aussie batters, and that is exactly what transpired on the pitch. As opposed to the Pakistan innings, where the ball simply did not reach the fence all that often, the Australian innings started extremely well, with both openers getting a series of boundaries as they added 60 runs for the first wicket.
They had set the tone for the rest of the game as it was smooth sailing for the Aussie women from that point forward. Alyssa Healy top-scored with a well-constructed 72, guiding Australia to a huge win. The Aussies reached the target in 34.3 overs to wrap up a convincing victory over Pakistan.
