Some fine bowling from Amelia Kerr and Eden Carson on Monday propelled New Zealand into the semi-finals of the Women’s T20 World Cup with a 54-run thrashing of Pakistan in their final group match.
Off-spinner Carson, who was named player of the match, took 2-7 from her three overs, while Kerr ended with 3-14 as New Zealand bowled out Pakistan for just 56 in 11.4 overs.
New Zealand, who posted 110-6 off their 20 overs, became the second team from Group A to make it to the last four after holders Australia who finished top.
Photo: AP
Defeat marked the end of Pakistan’s hopes of qualifying and meant that India were also eliminated, paying the price for their opening 58-run defeat by New Zealand.
“It hasn’t sunk in yet,” New Zealand captain Sophie Devine said. “We will certainly celebrate tonight, but this is just the next stage of a tournament we are looking forward to.”
Pakistan needed to reach the target in just 10.4 overs if they were to improve their net run-rate enough to overhaul the White Ferns in the table, but they started their chase on a shaky note, losing openers Aliya Riaz, promoted up to opener, for a duck and Muneeba Ali (15) inside the first five overs.
It was downhill thereafter, with Sadaf Shamas (2) being clean bowled by Fran Jonas and Iram Javed (3) being run out by a direct throw from Lea Tahuhu.
Reduced to 28-5 at the end of power play, Pakistan never recovered.
Skipper Fatima Sana, who was back with the team after flying home briefly to Pakistan following the death of her father, played a lone hand, making 21 in a lost cause.
“We were good with the ball, but we have to improve our batting and fielding,” Sana said reflecting on the eight catches that Pakistan put down. “We were not up to the mark. I think our seniors should step up in these kinds of matches.”
New Zealand were off to a steady start after electing to bat first, with Suzie Bates (28) and Georgia Plimmer (17) sharing 41 runs for the opening wicket, but Pakistan struck soon after the power play, dismissing both openers and Kerr (9) in quick succession.
Pakistan paid the price for their sloppy fielding with Sidra Amin dropping a sitter off Nida Dar when Sophie Devine was on 14.
However, Devine failed to capitalize and was scooped up by Sana at long-on off Sadia Iqbal for 19.
Left-arm spinner Nashra Sandhu was the most successful bowler, picking up 3-18, including the wicket of Brooke Halliday for 22.
Former world No. 2 Paula Badosa has withdrawn from this week’s Wuhan Open, organizers said on Tuesday, amid a racism row over an online photograph. Tournament organizers said the Spaniard had pulled out of the WTA 1000 tournament, citing a gastrointestinal illness, hours before her first-round match against Australian Ajla Tomljanovic. News outlets including Britain’s the Telegraph earlier reported that Badosa had posted a photo on Instagram in which she appeared to imitate a Chinese face by placing chopsticks on the corners of her eyes. The photo was taken last week in a restaurant in Beijing, where she reached the semi-finals of the
Shin Oebori coaches the Fukagawa Hawks youth baseball team in Tokyo, and he is very aware how Los Angeles Dodgers superstar Shohei Ohtani touches his players. “With Ohtani, the kids think everything is possible,” Oebori said, wrapping up practice yesterday on an all-dirt field set alongside a local Buddhist temple, below an elevated highway, and in the shadow of tall apartment blocks in central Tokyo. “Nothing is impossible with him. A dream is not a dream,” Oebori said, stepping out of the fenced practice field that keeps balls from landing on the temple grounds. None of the players hitting sponge-soft baseball has reached
CRICKET Azhar’s 59 leads Stallions Aashir Azhar’s blazing half-century guided the Taipei Stallions to victory over Taipei Super 11 in the Taiwan Premier League’s Group A at the Yingfeng Cricket Ground in Taipei yesterday. The Stallions were 102-3 and into the 12th over of 20 when Azhar came to the crease. He hit seven sixes and two fours in the 25 deliveries he faced to push his side to 171-5. Gokul Kumar was the star with the ball for Super 11, taking 3-17. In the reply, Deepak Vishnu outscored Azhar with 77 from 50 balls, but nobody else got past 20 as
‘GLOBAL PRESSURE’: LA’s Dave Roberts said that it was difficult to appreciate the ‘pressure on a global scale’ his starter was under ‘pitching for his country’ The Los Angeles Dodgers shelled out US$1 billion for Japanese talent in the off-season and it is paying off in the MLB playoffs. Yoshinobu Yamamoto on Friday outdueled Yu Darvish in a historic post-season matchup of Japanese-born starters, while the Dodgers got home runs from Kike Hernandez and Teoscar Hernandez to beat the San Diego Padres 2-0 and advance to the National League Championship Series. “It’s pretty sweet,” a smiling Freddie Freeman said. Yamamoto allowed two hits over five innings for the win, getting pulled after 63 pitches in a decisive Game 5 between heated NL West rivals who were meeting in a