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Pakistan call Maham to bolster pace attack after Knight's heroics in first ODI

England captain scores fifty, bags five wickets in first ODI against Sana Mir and co

News Desk June 22, 2016

Heather took five wickets and also made an unbeaten 50 in her first game in charge of England. PHOTO COURTESY: ECB

Heather Knight led from the front on her debut as England skipper as she, along with Tammy Beaumont, guided England to a seven-wicket win over Pakistan Women in their ICC Women’s Championship ODI at Grace Road in Leicester on Tuesday.

Knight claimed her maiden ODI five-wicket haul and also made an unbeaten 50 to ensure her first game in charge of England ends on a winning note.

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England elected to field first and got their reward as Pakistan were restricted to a low total of 165, with Knight registering her maiden ODI five-wicket haul.

While opener Sidra Ameen, who made 52 off 79 balls, held firm on one end, wickets kept falling for Pakistan at regular intervals with none of the players able to hold their ground for long, and those who did were unable to post a lot of runs on the board.

Sidra was Pakistan Women’s lone warrior and once her wicket fell in the 32nd over with Pakistan 106-5, the team wilted and only managed to add 59 more runs before being dismissed by the 46th over.

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Apart from Sidra and tail-ender Asmavia Iqbal (22), no one managed to get past the 20-run mark from Pakistan.

Knight was the pick of the bowlers with figures of 5-26, while Katherine Brunt took two wickets for 24 runs.

In reply, England reached the total with ease as opener Beaumont made 70 off 75 balls, while Knight made 50 to take the onus in the three-match series.

Maham called up by team management

The Pakistan team management called up budding pacer Maham Tariq to bolster the pace attack as officials felt that she could be handy in English conditions.

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“The team management asked us to have Maham on the tour which is why she has been sent as the 16th player,” Former Test cricketer and chief selector of the Pakistan women’s cricket Farrukh Zaman told The Express Tribune. “She will boost our bowling attack.”

Published in The Express Tribune, June 22^nd, 2016.

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