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Easy wins for Pakistan and England

A round-up of the first set of warm-up matches for the ICC women's World Twenty20 in St Kitts

Cricinfo staff
03-May-2010
Nain Abidi steered Pakistan to a six-wicket victory  •  Getty Images

Nain Abidi steered Pakistan to a six-wicket victory  •  Getty Images

Pakistan women eased to a six-wicket victory over West Indies in a warm-up game at Basseterre. In a fourteen-member-a-side match, the home side posted 117 after choosing to bat, with in-form opener Stafanie Taylor top scoring with a brisk 41. Medium-pacer Sania Khan and legspinner Urooj Mumtaz combined for five wickets to derail the West Indies middle order after Taylor provided a solid start. Pakistan had little trouble chasing down the target, after each of their top three made substantial contributions. Opener Nain Abidi shepherded the chase with a patient 48, and was only dismissed in the 19th over with victory two runs away.
New Zealand maintained their Twenty20 dominance of Australia with an 18-run win in Molyneaux. Opener Suzie Bates made a half-century to guide New Zealand to a competitive 136, a total boosted by the 20 wides bowled by Australia. Sarah McGlashan also chipped in with 29 and was involved in a 56-run stand with Bates for the second wicket. Australia's reply got off to a poor start as they slipped to 24 for 2. Shelley Nitschke (31) and Alex Blackwell (44*) tried to revive the chase, but the scoring wasn't at quick enough a pace to force a win.
World champions England had an easy outing against India, winning by 25 runs at Basseterre. England's openers, Sarah Taylor and Charlotte Edwards, put on 46 at nearly a run-a-ball after they chose to bat. The dangerous Claire Taylor was bowled by Amita Sharma for a duck, but Edwards' 41 took England to 133. India looked in with a chance only during the 48-run third wicket stand between perennial top scorer Mithali Raj (44) and Harmanpreet Kaur (28). With none of the other batsmen making it to double digits, India's hopes faded and they finished well short.
In a low-scoring match at Molyneaux, Sri Lanka pulled off a four-wicket victory over South Africa. After being sent in, Trisha Chetty and Susan Benade were the only South African batsmen to cross 10, which meant they could only set a small target of 94. Medium-pacer Eshani Kaushalya did the damage for Sri Lanka, taking four wickets in two overs to limit South Africa to only 13 runs in the final four overs after they had been 80 for 4. She then helped put Sri Lanka on course for victory with a patient 18 after coming in at 13 for 2. Suwini de Alvis made 31 to guide Sri Lanka before Deepika Rasnagika's eight-ball 16 sealed the win.