🔗 Share this article Torrential Showers Saves The English Team and Shatters Pakistani Team Aspirations of Historic Triumph Pakistan came agonisingly close to their inaugural one-day international success against England in Colombo this Wednesday, arriving at an unbeaten 34 in pursuit of a revised Duckworth-Lewis-Stern goal of 113 prior to heavy rainfall halted their hopes of making history. England's Batting Collapse England's offensive play has faltered from crisis to crisis throughout this World Cup – they required saving thanks to Heather Knight against Bangladesh and Nat Sciver-Brunt's performance when playing Sri Lanka – on this occasion it seemed as if their vulnerabilities would plague them again, when they crumbled to 79 for seven in the opening 25 overs. Rain Delays and Recovery Following an early weather interruption for about four hours, England came back to accumulate 54 additional runs – however, Pakistan's opening pair Muneeba Ali and Omaima Sohail seemed to be handling easily the target, aided by the unavailability of the English team's primary attackers Lauren Bell and Sophie Ecclestone because of illness. Only additional rainfall spared England embarrassment. "Pakistan delivered exceptional bowling and posed serious challenges for us to get into the game at all,” the England captain Sciver-Brunt told Sky Sports. “We weren’t good enough and we accept responsibility. Everyone’s practising really well and I guess it’s about finding a way to perform similarly during games.” Competition Consequences The no-result means that The English team continues their path to advance to the semifinals provided they secure victory one of their final three group matches facing India, Australia and New Zealand. Playing Surface and Bowling Excellence This competition has thus far been ideal for spin bowlers, however in this match it was significant swing which caused problems against the English opening lineup, following heavy rain 24 hours earlier that canceled the second half of the Sri Lanka game versus New Zealand. Pakistan’s young captain Captain Sana bowled an outstanding spell of 5-1-19-3, including a wicket maiden initially, dismissing Amy Jones through the gate via an inward-moving ball. Pivotal Events and Decision Review Knight once again saved herself through a well-timed DRS review facing Sana which was missing leg stump, however the Pakistan captain to take two wickets in the next over with two further hooping deliveries – the first of which the captain deflected onto the stumps, and another that hit Knight right in front. Earlier, Tammy Beaumont had left the ball to Diana Baig and got bowled by a delivery that came back that grazed the top of the off stump, while it was the left-arm spin by Sadia Iqbal that dismissed both Dunkley and Lamb. Event Planning Issues Questions may be raised regarding the choice to host part of the World Cup at Colombo amid the wet period, considering this is the third abandonment on this pitch – yet the English team will just breathe a sigh of relief as they progress to Indore.