COLOMBO: Pakistan’s hopes of playing in the ICC Women’s World Cup later this year suffered a huge reversal on Wednesday when Sri Lanka sealed a five-wicket win in the opening round of the Super Six stage in Colombo.

India, meanwhile, took another big step towards making to the main event, to be hosted by England, after clinching a 49-run win over South Africa while Bangladesh also registered notable success against Ireland by an impressive margin of seven wickets.

After winning the toss and electing to field at the Nondescript Cricket Club (NCC) Ground, Sri Lanka restricted Pakistan to 212-7.

Opener Nahida Khan (64 off 92 balls, five boundaries) and Javeria Khan (63 off 105, two fours) added 119 for the second wicket before both batters fell to pace bowler Chamari Polgampola, who along with captain and left-arm spinner Inoka Rana­weera, grabbed two wickets.

Sri Lanka, in their reply, reached the target with 16 deliveries to spare. The star performers being Lokusuriyage Eshani Kaushalya — who anchored the chase as she struck an undefeated 65 from 75 balls with eight fours — and wicket-keeper Prasadani Weerakkody, who scored 45 off 71 balls with two boundaries. They shared a fourth-wicket stand worth 88 runs.

The platform was provided by Nipuni Hansika (37) and Chamari Athapaththu (35) in a 75-run opening partnership.

Captain Mithali Raj starred in India’s win over South Africa as she put on 96 for the second wicket with Mona Meshram to help her side collect 205-8. Raj scored 64 off 85 balls with 10 fours and Meshram got 55 off 85 balls with five fours and two sixes.

 Pace bowler Shikha Pandey and left-arm spinner Ekta Bisht, who shared the new ball, then finished with four and three wickets, respectively, as South Africa folded for 156 in 46.4 overs.

Results of other matches on Wednesday:

Super Six round:

At P. Sara Oval: India beat South Africa by 49 runs.

INDIA 205-8 in 50 overs (M. Raj 64, M.R. Meshram 55, S. Pandey 21; M. Kapp 2-23, A. Khaka 2-44); SOUTH AFRICA 156 in 46.4 overs (T. Chetty 52, M. Kapp 29, D. van Niekerk 20; S. Pandey 4-34, E. Bisht 3-22).

At CCC Ground: Bangladesh beat Ireland by seven wickets.

IRELAND 144 in 47.1 overs (C.M.A. Shillington 37, L. Delany 37, I.M.H.C. Joyce 24; Jahanara Alam 3-21, Panna Ghosh 2-16, Khadija Tul Kubra 2-26, Rumana Ahmed 2-56); BANGLADESH 145-3 in 39.1 overs (Sharmin Akhter 52, Fargana Hoque 34 not out, Rumana Ahmed 24 not out, Sharmin Sultana 22).

Friday’s fixtures (all matches start at 9:30am PST):

Pakistan vs Ireland (CCC Ground), Sri Lanka vs South Africa (P. Sara Oval), India vs Bangladesh (NCC Ground).

Scoreboard

PAKISTAN:

Ayesha Zafar b S. Weerakkody 1Nahida Khan c S. W’kkody b K’hami 64Javeria Khan lbw b Kumarihami 63Bismah Maroof b Prabodhani 20Nain Abidi run out 17Rabiya Shah st P. W’kkody b R’weera 9Aliya Riaz c Perera b Ranaweera 7Sana Mir not out 17Aiman Anwar not out 1

EXTRAS (LB-5, W-8) 13

TOTAL (for seven wkts, 50 overs) 212

FALL OF WKTS: 1-3, 2-122, 3-161, 4-161, 5-182, 6-188, 7-205.

DID NOT BAT: Ghulam Fatima, Nashra Sandhu.

BOWLING: Prabodhani 9-0-34-1 (3w); S.S. Weerakkody 9-1-41-1 (2w); Ranaweera 8-0-33-2; Jayangani 5-0-23-0; Kaushalya 7-0-24-0 (1w); Fernando 2-0-18-0 (1w); Kumarihami 10-0-34-2.

SRI LANKA:

M.D.N. Hansika lbw b Fatima 37 A.C. Jayangani b Nashra 35 M.A.D.D. Surangika c Sana b Fatima 10 P.M. Weerakkody b Sana 45 L.E. Kaushalya not out 65 G.W.H.M. Perera c Ayesha b Nashra 0 P.R.C.S. Kumarihami not out 6

EXTRAS (B-3, LB-4, W-9, NB-2) 18

TOTAL (for five wkts, 47.4 overs) 216

FALL OF WKTS: 1-75, 2-84, 3-102, 4-190, 5-191.

DID NOT BAT: S.I.P. Fernando, S.S. Weerakkody I. Ranaweera, K.D.U. Prabodhani.

BOWLING: Aiman Anwar 6-1-22-0 (1w); Sana Mir 10-1-40-1 (1nb, 2w); Nashra Sandhu 10-0-37-2; Javeria Khan 8.4-0-47-0 (4w); Ghulam Fatima 6-0-28-2 (1nb); Aliya Riaz 3-0-18-0 (2w); Bismah Maroof 4-0-17-0.

RESULT: Sri Lanka won by five wickets.

UMPIRES: A.K. Chaudhary (India) and S. Redfern (England).

PLAYER-OF-THE-MATCH: Eshani Kaushalya.

Published in Dawn, February 16th, 2017