Pakistan Women 195 for 1 (Ameen 91*, Maroof 69*) beat Ireland Women 194 (Waldron 35, Kelly 34, Fatima 3-32, Sandhu 3-41) by nine wickets
Following her record-breaking unbeaten 176 on Friday, Sidra Ameen notched up an unbeaten 91 in the second ODI to help the hosts chase down Ireland’s small target of 195 and take an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three-match series.
Ameen was assisted in Pakistan’s chase by the captain Bismah Maroof. They put on an unbroken stand of 136 for the second wicket, with 22 fours between them. They razed the target with more than 17 overs to spare, with both Ameen and Maroof operating at nearly a run a ball in a second straight dominating batting show from the home side.
Ireland’s batters, for their part, got starts but did make full use of them. Six Ireland batters got past 20 but, from there, none could get past 35 – Mary Waldron (35) and Arlene Kelly (34) were the top scorers. Most of the damage was caused by regular strikes from the spin bowlers. Left-arm spinner Nashra Sandhu and legspinner Ghulam Fatima took three wickets apiece while right-arm seamer Fatima Sana took two.
After Sana struck in the first over of the match, Sandhu and Fatima took over to reduce Ireland to 122 for 7. A 60-run eighth-wicket stand between Waldron and Kelly took Ireland close to the 200-run mark, but once that partnership was broken, the last two wickets followed swiftly too.
Pakistan’s chase of 195 started off with a stand of 59 between Ameen and Muneeba Ali (27). But despite using eight bowlers, Ireland captain Laura Delany could not find another wicket. Instead they were met with aggression from Ameen and Maroof, the last 61 runs coming in just 6.4 overs.
Source: ESPN Crickinfo