🔗 Share this article Torrential Showers Saves England and Shatters Pakistani Team Dreams of Historic Victory Pakistan narrowly missed out on their first one-day international success facing the English team on the Colombo pitch midweek, arriving at 34 runs without losing a wicket going after a revised Duckworth-Lewis-Stern goal set at 113 before heavy rainfall halted their chances to achieve a milestone. England's Batting Struggles The English batting lineup has faltered from one disaster to another in this tournament – they needed rescuing through Heather Knight's efforts facing Bangladesh and Nat Sciver-Brunt's performance against Sri Lanka – on this occasion it seemed as if their frailties would come back to trouble them, when they crumbled to a precarious 79/7 in the opening 25 overs. Showers and Resumption Postponed first by rain of almost four hours, England came back to add 54 further runs – but Pakistan’s openers the duo of Ali and Sohail appeared to be cruising the target, helped by the non-participation of England's main bowlers Lauren Bell and Sophie Ecclestone because of illness. Only further rain spared England embarrassment. "Pakistan delivered exceptional bowling and made it really hard for us to gain any momentum in the game,” the England captain Sciver-Brunt told Sky Sports. "We didn't meet the standard and we accept responsibility. Everyone’s practising really well and it seems we need finding a way to perform similarly during games.” Tournament Implications The no-result signifies that England stay on track to progress to the semi-finals if they manage to win one of their final three group-stage encounters against India, Australia and New Zealand. Ground State and Bowling Performance This tournament has thus far been a haven for spinners, yet on this occasion it was prodigious swing that posed difficulties against the English opening lineup, post substantial precipitation the previous day that abandoned the latter part of the Sri Lankan contest against New Zealand. The youthful Pakistani skipper Sana sent down an outstanding spell with figures of 5-1-19-3, including a wicket maiden first up, getting Amy Jones out through the defense via an inward-moving ball. Crucial Instances and Review System Heather Knight once more preserved her wicket through a well-timed DRS review versus Sana that was going past leg stump, only for the Pakistan captain to take two wickets in the following over with two further hooping deliveries – one which the captain deflected onto to her stumps, and another that struck Knight plumb in front. Previously, Tammy Beaumont had opted not to play to Diana Baig and was dismissed by a nip-backer which hit the top of the off stump, whereas it was the left-arm bowling of Sadia Iqbal which did for Dunkley and Lamb. Event Planning Issues Questions may be raised concerning the determination to host part of the World Cup in the Colombo venue throughout the rainy season, since this represents the third abandonment at the venue – yet the English team will just experience relief as they move on to the Indore venue.