England overcame a terrible start against Pakistan via a match-saving partnership between Amy Jones and Heather Knight, followed by a four-wicket haul to leg-spinner Sarah Glenn to win the opening match of their home international summer.
Jones and Knight rescued the hosts from 11 for 4 after 17 balls of the first T20I, in front of a crowd of 12, 241 at Edgbaston. A powerful 41 not out off just 21 deliveries from Dani Gibson helped lift England to 163 for 6, a total which had looked unlikely in the third over following a top-order collapse that will give England plenty to work on despite the result.
Glenn, playing her first match in an England shirt since she was concussed during the recent tour of New Zealand, kept Pakistan in check after they made a spirited start to the run-chase. She ended with 4 for 12 from her four overs, while seamer Lauren Bell took three and left-arm spinner Sophie Ecclestone and off-spinner Charlie Dean took one wicket each.
Alice Capsey’s drop of the head said it all. The ball had barely reached its zenith and begun to fall into the hands of Sidra Ameen but she knew the outcome, and its implications. England were 11 for 3 just 2.1 overs into the match and there was worse to come. Maia Bouchier carried plenty of hope into the middle after staking her claim as opener with an excellent tour of New Zealand in March, with Tammy Beaumont and Sophia Dunkley overlooked for this series. Bouchier tucked WaheedaAkhtar’s third ball to the fine-leg boundary but plinked the very next delivery straight to Nida Dar at mid-off. Danni Wyatt then spooned Sadia Iqbal to mid-on and Capsey followed, leaving England in dire trouble.
England were without Nat Sciver-Brunt, who joined her team for the warm-up despite being ruled out on match eve to allow her to recover from a medical procedure. Her absence paved the way for Freya Kemp to walk in at No. 5, playing purely as a batter on her return from a back problem. But Kemp was part of terrible mix-up with Knight, who was unmoved as Kemp drilled an Akhtar delivery back towards the bowler and took off for a run, Akhtar throwing to wicketkeeper Muneeba Ali who whipped off the bails as Kemp retreated all too late.
At 11 for 4, still in just the third over, it fell to Knight and Jones to rebuild. Jones, playing her 100th T20I and at her home ground, survived a tough chance at point off Akhtar when she was on 2 and, by the time she drove Fatima Sana through midwicket for four, she and Knight had dragged England up to 29 for 4 at the end of the powerplay. Jones then rocked back and pulled Akhtar for four in the next over and back-to-back fours off Rameen Shamim from Knight, clearing extra cover and swept through square leg, suggested the home side’s recovery was on track. Knight missed a reverse off Dar and was struck on the back knee but managed to overturn her lbw dismissal when the ball was shown to have hit her outside the line of off stump.
Knight didn’t stop when wrist-spinner Tuba Hassan was introduced, thundering a drive over long-on while Jones pulled and swept Rameen for twin fours at the start of the next over, so that by the halfway point of the innings, England were 63 for 4. Jones had been excellent on the sweep but it proved her undoing when she top-edged a Sadia full toss to deep square leg, where Natalia Pervaiz took a cool-headed catch to end her innings on 37 from 27 balls.
