Pakistan were well on track for a well-deserved win in a rain-affected clash until more rain in Colomobo had England thankful for a washout
England captain Nat Sciver-Brunt has admitted her World Cup hopefuls simply were not good enough as only a rain downpour prevented them suffering their first defeat of the tournament at the hands of unfortunate Pakistan in Sri Lanka.
England’s inspirational skipper was not about to make any excuses after Pakistan, cruising at 34 without loss off 6.4 overs on Wednesday, were halted by more bad weather in Colombo when seemingly easing to their readjusted target of 113.Â
The game had to be abandoned with both teams ending with a point, which was enough to enable England to return to the top on seven points, but they’re now only ahead of similarly unbeaten Australia in the eight-team group table on net run-rate.
The top four will qualify for the knockout stages with Australia looking to book their spot by defeating Bangladesh at Visakhapatnam on Thursday.
For winless Pakistan, though, it’s the end of the road, after they had also had Australia in a spin in Colombo a week ago until Beth Mooney’s remarkable match-turning innings.
“We weren’t very good today and we’ll hold our hands up,” conceded Sciver-Brunt at the post-match presentation.
“Pakistan bowled brilliantly and the conditions had changed by the time we got the ball in our hands.”
England had slumped to 7-79 before a first rain break of almost four hours came to their aid and led to the match being reduced to 31-overs per side.
Charlie Dean (33) and Em Arlott (18) did lead a fightback of sorts to squeeze England to 9-133 but the target was then revised downwards and looked well within Pakistan’s reach.
Pakistan skipper Fatima Sana had won the toss and elected to bowl first on a difficult R. Premadasa Stadium pitch, with seamer Diana Baig justifying the skipper’s call by bowling key batter Tammy Beaumont, who misjudged a swinging delivery.
Sana herself was excellent, extracting plenty of movement off the pitch as she took 4-27, her best figures at a World Cup.
After the first rain interruption on 25 overs, the game was reduced to 31-overs a side and England did well to cobble together 54 more runs at nine an over over those last six overs, with Dean and Arlott amassing 47 for the eighth wicket.
The rain that finally washed out any chance of a result felt particularly cruel on Pakistan, who must have felt they’d been robbed of the chance to at last beat England for the first time at an ODI at the 17th attempt.
“I think today is the day that we showed we can beat them, but it was not in our favour,” sighed Sana.
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2025 Women’s ODI World Cup standings
Team
Matches played
M
Wins
W
Losses
L
Ties
T
No results
N/R
Net Run Rate
NRR
Deductions
Ded.
Total points
PTS
1
Australia Women
AUS
5
4
0
0
1
1.818
0
9
2
England Women
ENG
4
3
0
0
1
1.864
0
7
3
South Africa Women
SA
4
3
1
0
0
-0.618
0
6
4
India Women
IND
4
2
2
0
0
0.682
0
4
5
New Zealand Women
NZ
4
1
2
0
1
-0.245
0
3
6
Bangladesh Women
BAN
5
1
4
0
0
-0.676
0
2
7
Sri Lanka Women
SL
4
0
2
0
2
-1.526
0
2
8
Pakistan Women
PAK
4
0
3
0
1
-1.887
0
1
Legend
M: Matches played
W: Wins
L: Losses
T: Ties
N/R: No results
NRR: Net Run Rate
Ded.: Deductions
PTS: Total points