England 302 for five (Sciver-Brunt 124*, Wyatt 44, Capsey 39*) beat Pakistan 124 (Muneeba 47, Ecclestone 3-15) by 178 runs
The consequence, achieved underneath mercifully rain-free skies after the sodden mess that engulfed Sunday’s second match at Taunton, condemned Pakistan to a 2-0 collection loss within the 50-over leg of their tour, to go together with their 3-0 whitewashing within the T20Is. And, in a welcome signal of progress for the hosts after final week’s “scrappy” 37-run victory at Derby, this was England’s most full show of their 5 accomplished matches, with Pakistan’s innings this time mopped up with greater than 20 overs to spare.
The world’s No.1 spin bowler is a helpful operator to have the ability to introduce at 96 for six after 21 overs, after Charlie Dean had been rewarded for her personal perseverance by selecting off Fatima Sana for a third-ball duck. She duly mopped up the resistance with three wickets in 25 balls, together with two in two to march by to 100 ODI wickets in her sixty fourth match – the quickest in girls’s ODI historical past – together with her captain Heather Knight grabbing Nashra Sandhu at slip for the landmark wicket.
With Nida Dar unable to bat after tweaking her hamstring within the area, it was left to England’s substitute fielder Sophia Dunkley to wrap up the competition with greater than 20 overs remaining, with a pointy tumbling take at long-off that ended Aliya Riaz’s doughty innings of 36 from 41.
For all of England’s pre-eminence, it won’t have been fairly such a one-sided contest had Sciver-Brunt not emerged head and shoulders above the remainder of the sphere, nonetheless. When she’s in her groove, no crew on this planet can dwell together with her, as Australia found within the white-ball leg of final yr’s Ashes, and right here was one other state of affairs wherein she merely stamped her class on the competition.
Her ninth ODI hundred was her fourth in 9 innings and tenth in all codecs for England, and likewise took her previous 3,500 ODI runs in her 94th innings, at a sooner charge than any feminine batter in historical past. Her solely real let-off got here on 86, when Najiha Alvi spilled a skinny edge off Nashra that would even have been a stumping likelihood however, unfazed, she banked her century from 110 balls with back-to-back scoops for 4 off Sana, earlier than actually reducing unfastened to use a gloss end to the innings. Diana Baig’s ultimate over was clattered for consecutive straight sixes and one other lofted 4 by the covers, as England ransacked 47 runs from the ultimate three overs.
It hadn’t began with fairly such poise, nonetheless. After profitable the toss and batting first, England as soon as once more endured a combined powerplay in opposition to some probing new-ball bowling and have been three-down for 70 contained in the 14th over. Particularly, Tammy Beaumont’s dismissal to an ill-conceived ramp shot epitomised a crew that’s decided to dial up their aggression with the T20 World Cup looming, however has struggled to “learn the conditions” of a 50-over innings that Knight had recognized as their key problem within the lead-up to the collection.
Bouchier impressed together with her poise initially, selecting off six fours to offer the majority of England’s early progress, however her 34 from 33 balls nonetheless ended up being her highest rating of a collection that had promised extra. However after Knight had come and gone cheaply, Danni Wyatt took over the initiative in a fourth-wicket stand of 79 with a 42-ball 44, earlier than Amy Jones capitalised on a let-off at midwicket on 6 to maintain the innings ticking with a run-a-ball 27.
Alice Capsey then saved Sciver-Brunt firm into the loss of life overs with 39 not out from 42 balls, together with a one-bounce 4 down the bottom moments after overturning an lbw attraction that was proven to be going over the stumps. Thereafter she was restricted to only one extra boundary in her first 37 balls till a late brace within the ultimate over, as Pakistan tightened their traces to briefly elevate the prospect of limiting England to a complete nearer to 250 than 300.
However by the point England’s premier performer had trotted out her A-game within the closing moments, there was no manner again for Pakistan.
Andrew Miller is UK editor of ESPNcricinfo. @miller_cricket