Knight starts in style

By Jon Culley

A new era for the England Women's cricket team began on a successful note as Heather Knight marked her first match as captain with a victory over Pakistan at Leicester in the first of three Royal London One-Day Internationals, putting her name in the record books for good measure.

Knight led from the front by taking a career-best 5-26 with her off-spin and added an unbeaten 50 with the bat as England cruised to victory with 18.1 overs to spare.

It is the first time in 50-over international women's cricket that any captain has scored a half-century and taken five wickets in the same match.

Chasing 166 to win at the Fischer County Ground in a match originally scheduled for Monday but delayed because of a waterlogged outfield, England cantered home by seven wickets after Kent opener Tammy Beaumont made an international career-best score of 70.

It was a day to remember, too, for strike bowler Katherine Brunt, who became only the fourth England player to take 100 ODI wickets. 

There was a nervous moment at the start of England's reply when opener Lauren Winfield was caught at slip off the first ball but though Pakistan's captain, the off-spinner Sana Mir, bowled Georgia Elwiss for 12, at 53 for two from 10 overs England were already on target for a comfortable win.

Beaumont's 70, which surpassed her previous best score of 44 for England in 67 appearances across all formats, was made off 75 balls and included 11 fours.

Until she was caught at mid-on in a miscued attempt to hit Asmavia Iqbal's medium pace over mid-wicket, her only real scare came when she was almost run out on 49, sent back by Knight after setting off for a single.

Her partnership with Knight added 96 in 20 overs for the third wicket as England enjoyed the best batting conditions of the day. Natalie Sciver then joined Knight, hitting 27 of the 37 more required at the fall of Beaumont's wicket but contriving to allow Knight to complete her half-century before securing the winning single off Iqbal.

Pakistan's score was their highest in five one-day internationals against England but would have been regarded as disappointing given the platform provided by opener Sidra Amin's maiden ODI half-century.

The 24-year-old right-hander from Lahore had made more than half her side's runs off the bat when she was fifth out at 106 in the 32nd over but support was lacking from Pakistan's top and middle order and had it not been for a late show of aggression from Sidra Nawaz and Asmavia Iqbal then England's task would have been even more straightforward.

Asked for bat first, Pakistan crawled to 29 for one after 10 overs, the wicket that fell being the one that mattered in particular to Brunt, when Javeria Wadood, tempted by some width, edged the first ball of her fourth over. Amy Jones, keeping wicket for England for the first time in almost two-and-a-half years, held the catch.

It ended a frustrating wait to move from 99 to 100 for the Yorkshire right-armer, who took three wickets in the first ODI against Australia at Taunton last July but did not take another in the series and was also wicketless in the series in South Africa in February. 

Pakistan's fate was probably decided in the middle phase of their winnings, when off-spinners Knight and Laura Marsh combined to frustrate and tie down Pakistan's batters, who added only 28 runs between the 20th over and the 30th. Knight struck with her second ball, Winfield taking a sharp catch at slip to dismiss Iram Javed.

Amin's strokes were not always pretty but her positive approach took her to 50 off 74 balls. Yet she became bogged down when there was less pace on the ball.

When Knight went round the wicket the change of approach brought immediate reward as the Pakistan player went to drive a flighted delivery and the England captain took a relatively straightforward return catch. She took another off her own bowling when Mir skied an attempted sweep. 

Marsh earned a deserved wicket when Sidra Nawaz was caught behind attempting a cut, Brunt returned to bowl Nida Mar through the gate and after Iqbal's flurry of boundaries Knight finished things off with two wickets in three balls as Iqbal and Sania Khan fell to catches on the boundary.

The result means England move into the top four places in the ICC Women's championship. If they can maintain that position with eight matches to play they will qualify automatically for the 2017 Women's World Cup, of which they are hosts.