England thrashed Pakistan by a massive 114 runs to secure a record-breaking victory in their final 2023 ICC Women's World Cup clash in Cape Town on Tuesday, February 21. This is the highest-ever victory margin by runs in this competition, even going above New Zealand's 102-run victory over Sri Lanka earlier in the World Cup.
Riding on Natalie Sciver-Brunt's unbeaten 81 off 40 and Danni Wyatt's 59 off 33, the Englishwomen scored 213 runs for the loss of five wickets. Wicketkeeper-batter Amy Jones' innings of 47 off 31 were also crucial to this score, which is the highest-ever total in the history of the Women's T20 World Cup.
The Pakistani batters never came close to reaching the target and lost crucial wickets early in their innings in the absence of injured skipper and star batter Bismah Maroof. Katherine Sciver-Brunt and Charlie Dean bagged two wickets each as the Pakistani women were limited to 99 runs for the loss of eight wickets in their stipulated 20 overs.
England were stunned early in the game after losing the wickets of Sophia Dunkley (2 off 5), Alice Capsey (6 off 9) and skipper Heather Knight (4 off 6) cheaply. But Natalie and Jones brought them back into the game, with a 95-run partnership off just 48 balls.
Speaking after the game, the England skipper was especially pleased with the performance of Wyatt. “The way our batters played today, it was really good. Very pleased with Danni, and the way she was batting in the nets, it wasn't far away. Really pleased for the way she batted,” she said after the match.
Pakistan's stand-in captain Nida Dar was disappointed with her team's batting after the match. “We know we were lacking the strength in our batting line-up. We have to learn from these kinds of matches and will take some positives from them. We played two good matches here so will learn something. It's the best time for youngsters to come up and take the challenge,” she said.
Australia are set to face India in the first semifinal on Thursday, while England's semifinal opponent will be decided following the New Zealand-South Africa contest on Tuesday night.
