SHARJAH: A fine innings of 99 by Bismah Maroof and a three-wicket haul from left-arm spinner Anam Amin led Pakistan to a fantastic 57-run win over South Africa women’s team in Sharjah on Friday.

Pakistan, opting to bat first, lost their opener Marina Iqbal early but Maroof and Javeria Khan (49) counterattacked, adding 88 runs for the second wicket.

Leg-spinner Sune Luus (4-38) then sliced through Pakistan’s top order but Maroof again found an able partner in Asmavia Iqbal for a sixth-wicket association which yielded 74 runs. Pakistan finished with 216 for 9.

In reply, the South Africa batswomen failed to rise to the occasion and while quite a few of them got into double figures, they could not convert their knocks into match-winning ones

Opener Trisha Chetty was the only player to score more than 30, as Sana Mir (2-22) and Amin (3-24) kept pegging them back at regular intervals to restricting South Africa to 159-9.

Published in Dawn March 15th , 2015

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