Alice Capsey made a career-high 44 from 65 balls as England comfortably smack Pakistan in the first ODI against Pakistan in the Derby by 37 runs.
But despite the victory lead, captain Heather Knight described England’s performance as “patchy” and “a little deficient in execution” after a frustrating and unsmacken 28-run last-wicket stand by the tourists.
“We want to be ruthless,” Charlie Dean said. “Against teams like Australia, New Zealand and South Africa who have more striking depth, we have to make sure that no partnership is formed near the back. The way we approach this is something we are exploring.”
England had managed to score 243 under grey skies for nine goals on a cumbersome pitch that had been soaked by a tide of rain on the eve of the match. But their innings were never fully pitched – there were trifles from all their first seven, but no one reached a half-century.
Capsey got close, but even she struggled to speed up her innings, not found several set-back attempts and ramps in her 67 partnership with Amy Jones before finally putting the ball back into the hands of bowler Nashra Sandhu in the 44th over.
Surprisingly, the normally flawless Jones gave up a couple of easy chances behind the stumps and helped Pakistan cleanly spoil their chase until half-time, reaching 106 for three. They were helped by Wayward English Bowling, with the hosts conceding 40 extras against the Pakistani eight – a record for England in the 50 Over Format.
Jones had a Chance to atone in both matters – he clung to the edges of the same pasta, Sidra Amin and Muneeba Ali, shredded Lauren Bell balls. Pakistan’s fragile batting curse then struck again as they collapsed from 149 for four to 178 for nine in eight Overs. But when their opponents finally decided to close the hatches, England could not finish the job.
Knight had urged England to “take up the pressure” and play with “calculated aggression” during the pre-series press conference, but no one found that ideal place on Thursday-least of all the skipper herself. She was dropped twice, the first for no reason, as she tried to knock the ground over, crawling from 49 balls to 29 before finally sweeping one by Aliya Riaz outside off and finishing it with the goalkeeper’s toes.
Nat Sciver-Brunt hit back-to-back boundaries through the leg side against Nida, but fell to the same bowler two overs after his captain in an equally pointless manner.
Otherwise, the remaining seven English doors fell to turn (where have we heard this before?). These included two-for-two off-spinner Umm-e-Hani, who had missed out on selection in the T20s, but only took 13 balls on Thursday to remove Tammy Beaumont lbw after failing the sweep strike. “Slow bowling with the right side up is our nemesis,” Dean said. “It’s the kind of bowling we don’t usually face in Regional Cricket, so it’s a challenge.”
