February 23, 2008	Saturday	Safar 15, 1429

STELLENBOSCH (South Africa), Feb 22: Pakistan and South Africa booked their places in the ICC Women’s World Cup with one-sided semi-final wins against the Netherlands and Ireland respectively at the global event’s qualifiers on Friday.

Pakistan, from the tournament’s Pool ‘B’, crushed the Netherlands by 94 runs in the first semi-final while hosts South African women, from Pool ‘A’, outplayed their Irish counterparts by seven parts in the second semi.

After electing to bat first, Pakistan women, with useful contributions from openers Bismah Maroof (45) and Taskeen Qadeer (27), reached 162 all out in 45.5 overs. Lotte Egging (3-23) recorded a hat-trick, which earned her the man-of-the-match award.

In reply, the Dutch batswomen were dismissed for 68 with Annemarie Tanke (41) top scoring. Sajjida Shah took three wickets for 14.

Meanwhile, South Africa also won their semi-final match against Ireland after they were restricted to 107 all out in 47.4 overs. The hosts reached the target comfortably in

27.4 overs while losing three wickets.

Results:

Semi-finals:

PAKISTAN 162 in 45.5 overs (Bismah Maroof 45, Taskeen Qadeer 27; Egging 3-23); THE NETHERLANDS 68 in 31.2 overs (Annemarie Tanke 41; Sajida Shah 3-14).

IRELAND 107 in 47.4 overs (Cecilia Joyce 43 not out; Loubser 2-12, Smith 2-29); SOUTH AFRICA 108-3 (27.4 overs, Anderson 46 not out; Isobel Joyce 2-21).

Thursday’s results:

Pool ‘A’:

SOUTH AFRICA 277-4 in 50 overs (Cri-Zelda Brits 107, Annelie Minny 73, Alicia Smith 45); NETHERLANDS 50 in 41.4 overs (Kilowan 3-8).

PNG 223-9 in 50 overs (Kune Amini 65; Furbert 3-60); BERMUDA 44 in 30.2 overs (Karo Lumis 3-10, Siaka 3-11).

Pool ‘B’:

PAKISTAN 278 for 8 in 50 overs (Sajjida Shah 74, Sana Mir 52, Bismah Maroof 50); SCOTLAND 26 in 28.3 overs (Sajjida 3-6).

IRELAND 305 for 5 in 50 (Isobel Joyce 70, Claire Shillington 57); ZIMBABWE 97 in 29.5 overs (Isobel Joyce 5-17).—Agencies