PAK W vs SA W | Nashra Sandhu spins Pakistan to comfortable win in final ODI with career best figures

‌Pakistan Women ensured that they will walk into the Women’s ODI World Cup, later this month, with momentum behind them after beating South Africa Women by six wickets in the third ODI in Lahore on Monday. Left-arm spinner Nashra Sandhu registered career-best figures to orchestrate the visitors’ collapse before the Women in Green comfortably chased down the target to avoid a whitewash in the three-match series.

The Proteas Women got off to a good start after opting to bat first at the Gaddafi Stadium, with Captain Laura Wolvaardt hitting six fours during her 23-ball 28. Though she was dismissed by medium-pacer Diana Baig in the fourth ball of the seventh over, they looked comfortably placed at 46/1 with new batter Sune Luus hitting two fours in her first two balls. But things quickly unravelled once Sandhu was introduced in the ninth over, with the left-arm spinner accounting for Luus with her second ball of the match. The visitors slipped from 50/2 to 94/8 by the end of the 21st over. Sandhu ran through the South African middle order to record impressive figures of 6/26, her first five-wicket haul in ODIs, in nine overs as the visitors were skittled out for 115. Leg-spinner Syeda Arooba Shah also chipped in with two wickets as the innings ended within 26 overs.

In reply, the Women in Green had a forgettable start, losing Omaima Sohail for a first-ball duck as the scoreboard failed to move even after three overs. However, the hosts’ in-form duo of Muneeba Ali and Sidra Amin got the chase back on track with a slow, yet steady second-wicket partnership of 65 runs off 20 overs. But Muneeba (44) and captain Fatima Sana both departed in the space of a ball with medium-pacer Nadine de Klerk striking twice in her second over. That gave the Proteas a glimmer of hope to bounce back into the game but Sidra scored her third fifty-plus score in three matches to guide Pakistan home. She hit eight fours during her unbeaten knock of 50 off 94 balls as the Women in Green went past the target to finish at 117/4 with 19 overs to spare. De Klerk finished with figures of 2/19 in five overs, while left-arm spinner Nonkululeko Mlaba also picked up two wickets. Sandhu won the Player of the Match award for her stunning performance with the ball, while Tazmin Brits was adjudged the Player of the Series for scoring two hundreds in two matches.