Pak women give up first ODI after Knight shines on debut as captai

LONDON: Heather Knight had a dream first match as England women’s captain starring with both bat and ball in a seven-wicket win over Pakistan in Leicester on Tuesday.Knight, who replaced Charlotte Edwards after the long-serving batsman was effectively forced into retirement by England women’s coach Mark Robinson, took five for 26 with her off-spin and then struck an unbeaten 50 as her side cantered to victory with 18.1 overs to spare.It is the first time in 50-over international women’s cricket that a player 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.She was caught at mid-on in a miscued attempt to hit Asmavia Iqbal’s medium pace over midwicket, 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. Nat 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.There was a nervous moment at the start of England’s chase when opener Lauren Winfield was caught at slip off the first ball but though Pakistan’s captain, the offspinner Sana Mir, bowled Georgia Elwiss for 12, at 53 for 2 from 10 overs England were already on target for a comfortable win.Pakistan’s 165 all out was built around opener Sidra Ameen’s 52 but none of her team-mates could offer much in the way of support with the bat.It was a day to remember, too, for strike bowler Katherine Brunt, who became only the fourth England player to take 100 ODI wickets.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’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 Iqbal then England’s task would have been even more straightforward.Asked for bat first on a surface that was predictably sluggish after the wet weather that forced this match to be played in its entirety on the designated reserve day, Pakistan struggled to build early momentum.They crawled to 29 for 1 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 and Amy Jones, keeping wicket for England for the first time in almost two-and-a-half years, held the catch.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.England have now won all five of their ODIs against Pakistan and will look to go 2-0 up in three-match series when the teams meet again at Worcester on Wednesday.