New Zealand v Pakistan
- After her success in South Africa, it has been another good week for Amy Satterthwaite, who hit two centuries in the 2nd and 3rd ODIs as the White Ferns took a 3-0 series lead against Pakistan.
- The first two ODIs were easy wins for the Kiwis, as Pakistan simply failed to score runs; but there were signs of things coming together a bit for the visitors in the 3rd ODI, as a century stand between Javeria Khan and Bismah Maroof provided the foundation for a total of 263-6.
- As things stand, New Zealand still need one more win to assure qualification for England 2017 – they have that opportunity on Thursday.
India v West Indies
- West Indies went into this series needing just one win to wrap-up their qualification; but thus far it has been India all the way, and they currently lead the series 2-0.
- In both ODIs, West Indies batted first, but failed to put enough runs on the board (131 in the 1st ODI, 153 in the 2nd) and India chased them down easily.
- West Indies have another chance to qualify again on Wednesday; but…
- There is still a slim hope for India of direct qualification – if they win well on Wednesday and the ICC’s committee decrees that they share the points from their “missing” series with Pakistan, they could directly qualify at West Indies’ expense. UPDATE: Games Won counts before NRR, and West Indies are well ahead on this.
Sri Lanka v England
- This has been a difficult one to follow, with only a barely-live scorecard and the ECB’s official Twitter feed providing information; but we know obviously that England have done the job they went to Sri Lanka to do – qualify for their own tournament with a win in the 2nd ODI – the 1st “Championship” match.
- Although England won the 2nd ODI by a huge margin (over 100 runs) they did get bowled out, albeit off the final ball of the 50 overs, but still clearly questions remain over the fragility of the batting, and it will be interesting to see if Emma Lamb gets a couple of games now that the pressure is off for the last 2 matches.
And Finally…
- There are questions over the participation of West Indies players in future KSL and WBBL tournaments, after the West Indies Cricket Board decided to impose a “release fee” of 20% of the player’s annual contract, before they are allowed to play. Will the host boards pay up? It could add significantly to the cost of employing West Indies stars, so we shall see…!!
- Lastly, if you haven’t already, pop over to the New Zealand Herald right now and read their big interview with Suzie Bates, in which she discusses frankly the state of the game there, in the light of an official report which suggested women’s cricket has become “endangered”.