Danni Wyatt stars as England seal series whitewash

Wyatt's 87 set up the hosts for a 3-0 series win on a beautiful afternoon in Leeds, as Headingley hosted its first women's T20I

Nick Friend | 19/05/2024 at 16:00

Headingley: England 176, Pakistan 142-4 - England win by 34 runs

England sealed a T20I series whitewash against Pakistan with a comfortable victory at Headingley, set up by Danni Wyatt's 48-ball 87.

Wyatt, who had scored just seven runs in the first two matches of the series, took 34 balls to reach fifty before beginning to find the boundary more regularly.

She played a pretty lone hand, with only Amy Jones (26), Dani Gibson (13) and Heather Knight (12) also reaching double figures. Maia Bouchier and Alice Capsey were both carelessly run out, while Nat Sciver-Brunt – with no fielder behind square on the off-side – was lulled into offering a catch to point off Nida Dar, who ended with three wickets.

Dar also accounted for Knight and Gibson, before the ever-impressive Diana Baig nipped in for three wickets, two coming in the final over, which finished with a third runout – of Lauren Filer, in for Lauren Bell.

It was the highest score of the series for the home side but still far from perfect, with five games against New Zealand to come later this summer ahead of the T20 World Cup in Bangladesh.

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^{England wrapped up a comfortable series win (Shaun Botterill/Getty Images)}

Bouchier has been unable to fully capitalise on her superlative series in New Zealand, while Capsey's form has tailed off since last summer's Women's Ashes series.

But a total of 176 meant a run-chase for Pakistan that would have been their highest score batting second in a T20I, and they were always unlikely to pull that off despite the solid base provided by Sidra Ameen and Gull Feroza.

Ameen was adjudged lbw to Sophie Ecclestone, though replays showed that the ball had brushed her glove on the way through to her back leg, and Feroza holed out off Charlie Dean, who was initially put under the pump by the opening pair.

Wyatt's excellent day continued when she caught Muneeba Ali well, diving to her left at backward point off Gibson, before Filer – significantly quicker than anyone else on display – bounced out Sadaf Shamas.

From 73 for 4, Pakistan refused to fold, as they had done earlier in the series, and instead put on a show for the fifth wicket, with Dar and Aliya Riaz combining for eight boundaries in an unbeaten fifth-wicket stand worth 69. That proved in vain, however, with England easing over the line.

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