Pakistan go down under in Australia

Visitors lose ICC Women’s Championship opener by four wickets.

Pakistan women got off to a dull start in the International Cricket Council (ICC) Women’s Championship as they suffered a four-wicket defeat against Australia in their opening ODI played in Brisbane on Thursday.

Opting to bat first, the visitors stuttered to a paltry score of 157 in 50 overs.

Bismah Maroof was the top scorer with a painstaking 53 off 116 balls. Nida Dar batted with a relatively better strike rate, scoring 40 off 67 balls, as the rest of the team caved in without much resistance. Sarah Coyte was the most potent Australian bowler on the day with figures of 2 for 27 off 10 overs.

Pakistan bowlers tried to salvage some dignity as they took six wickets, but failed to stop the hosts from finishing the game on the first ball of the 37th over. Captain Sana Mir bowled admirably, snapping three wickets for 27 runs in her nine-over spell.

Maham Tariq and Sidra Nawaz made their international debuts for Pakistan, while Aussie captain Jess Cameron who scored an unbeaten half-century was named player of the match.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 22^nd, 2014.

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