‘Improved’ Pakistan look to conquer England in Women’s World Cup

KARACHI: After earning the surprise scalp of defending champions West Indies, Pakistan are now gunning to take formidable England by surprise in their crucial clash at the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup in Australia on Friday.

England have won all nine of their meetings with Pakistan and they face each other again in Canberra today with the former being the favourites.

But Javeria Khan, hero of Pakistan’s eight-wicket triumph against West Indies, warned that everything is possible in the shortest format of the game.

“T20 is a kind of format where the team that executes its plan better on the day wins. We are focused on our performance rather than worrying about the opposition, we would strive to apply our plans well and if we do that well we can succeed regardless of the opposition,” said Javeria.

Meanwhile, Pakistan’s rapid progress is no surprise to England’s Lauren Winfield. Winfield, part of the England side that beat Pakistan 3-0 in a series back in December, saw their resurgence first-hand in Malaysia and feels the tournament is playing into Pakistan’s hands.

“Pakistan already looked like they’ve improved from December,” said Winfield. “They played some good cricket in that series in patches. Looking from afar, you read results, you win a series 3-0 and no-one delves into the details.

“They’re a much-improved side and they played some good cricket in Malaysia. “This tournament is giving teams with a lot of slower bowling that don’t often score huge totals an opportunity, because they’re on good conditions with fast outfields.

“Often when you tour the subcontinent, if they don’t have a power game they find it harder. You get really good value for your shots in Australia. Those batting line-ups and those teams have come to life.

“That bodes well for a great tournament and it gives people across the board a better chance of playing good cricket.” Captain Bismah showed signs of good form in their series defeat to England, scoring 60 in the first T20I, and she shepherded Pakistan with a masterful unbeaten 38 in pursuit of 124 against Windies.

Her deputy and opener Javeria Khan, who posted an unbeaten 57 in the third and final match in December, is shouldering responsibility as a senior batter and helped set the tone with a well-made 25 on Wednesday.

Pakistan have yet to beat England in their nine meetings thus far, with this game shaping as potentially decisive for second place with South Africa looking to stretch their lead at the summit against Thailand.

Lower-order batter Aliya Riaz admits her side caught West Indies unawares with their plans and won’t be able to rely on the same element of surprise against familiar foes England. “It’s going to be a big game, a pressure game as well,” she said.

“We’ll need to perform exceptionally well and be very disciplined in all three areas of the game to beat a team as good as England. “People don’t know a lot about what our plans are so we can surprise teams, but that works both ways. We are preparing and we will take it match-by-match. “We’re not looking at qualifying, we’re moving forward and planning.”