A dominant display from Pakistan was overshadowed by dark rain clouds and persistant showers as Fatima Sana’s side and England shared points in their Women’s ODI World Cup 2025 fixture at the R.. Premadasa Stadium here on Thursday.
Here are the major talking points from the England vs Pakistan Women’s World Cup clash:
Pacers make merry
After opting to field, Pakistan skipper Fatima Sana and Diana Baig made the most of the swing and seam movement the Premadasa strip offered to pick early wickets. Tammy Beaumont and Amy Jones were sent back within the first three overs of the game with adept use of nip-backers to stun the English batters.
But the cherry on top was a length ball that nipped back off the seam in to England captain Nat Sciver-Brunt to leave the top of her middle stump rattled. Heather Knight, who survived two appeals, couldn’t survive Fatima Sana trapping her leg before, leaving England gingerly placed at 38 for four.
The top order’s inability to negotiate the seam bowling duo and a disciplined spin bowling discipline from Sadia Iqbal who was brought in to double down on the squeeze of run flow does not inspire confidence as the tournament heads into the business end.
Weather has last laugh
At every stage of this fixture, Pakistan had the upper hand, but rains came and dampened its hopes of registering its first win of the tournament. Pakistan reduced England to 78 for seven in 25 overs when rain gave England respite. When play resumed close to four hours later, the game was reduced to a 31-overs-a-side affair, giving England six more over to plump up its total. A 47-run stand for the eighth wicket between Charlie Dean and Em Arlott proved pivotal in helping England get to 133 for 9 in 31 overs.
Given rain interruptions, Pakistan was handed an adjusted target of 113 in 31 overs and got off to a great start, hacking down 34 runs in the first six overs when the covers were brought on again. As per DLS calculations, Pakistan was well ahead of the DLS required score which was 14. But, given the game was far from the minimum 20-over mark and the cut-off time was too close by, the game was abandoned. It was a positive effort in all departments from the Women in Green and they will feel hard done by the result not going their way.
Jailbreak for out-of-form England batting
Take a look at the batting form of England’s top five.
Amy Jones: 40* (vs Sa), 1 (vs ban), 11 (vs SL), 8 (vs pak)
Tammy Beaumont: 21* (vs SA), 13 (vs ban), 32 (vs SL), 4 (vs pak)
Heather Knight: DNB (VS SA), 79* (vs ban), 29 (vs SL), 18 (vs pak)
Nat Sciver-Brunt: DNB (VS SA), 32 (vs ban), 117 (vs SL), 4 (vs pak)
Sophia Dunkley: DNB (VS SA), 0 (vs ban), 18 (vs SL), 11 (vs pak)
Emma Lamb: DNB (VS SA), 1 (vs ban), 13 (vs SL), 4 (vs pak)
If it was Nat Sciver-Brunt who anchored England against Sri Lanka and Heather Knight against Bangladesh, it was the weather which worked its magic for England against Pakistan with the top order cutting a sorry figure in Colombo. The string of ordinary scores from much of the accomplished English batting order has been subpar in this World Cup.
In this fixture against Pakistan, on a Colombo strip that has generally not seen high scores, England registered 124 dot balls in the 186 deliveries faced in total. It is not a number coach Charlotte Edwards will be very happy about.
Published on Oct 16, 2025
