Feroza stars as Pakistan end campaign with victory

Pakistan signed off their Women's T20 World Cup campaign with their first and only win as Gull Feroza's composed 63 and three-wicket hauls from Ayesha Zafar (3 for 13) and captain Fatima Sana (3 for 12) powered them to a 37-run victory over Netherlands in Bristol on Saturday.

Opting to bat, Pakistan posted 126 for 6 after Feroza and Ayesha Zafar stitched together a 79-run stand for the second wicket. Feroza anchored the innings with 63 off 52 balls, hitting nine boundaries, while Zafar contributed 32 from 29 deliveries as Pakistan reached 102 for 2 after 15 overs and looked set for a much bigger total.

Netherlands, however, fought back impressively at the death. Pakistan lost four wickets for just 16 runs in the final five overs as Iris Zwilling (2 for 19), Heather Siegers, Caroline de Lange and Silver Siegers shared the wickets to restrict them to 126 for 6.

Netherlands started positively in their chase, with Heather Siegers finding boundaries to rack up 30 on the board in just over three overs. Diana Baig then struck with Siegers' wicket, getting her lbw, and a run out of Phebe Molkenboer in the next over slowed the chase further.

Nashra Sandhu, Tuba Hassan and Ayesha Zafar kept the batters under constant pressure, making boundaries difficult to find as the required rate climbed.

Captain Babette de Leede made 30 but lacked support as wickets continued to tumble. Fatima Sana then wrapped up the innings with three wickets in the 18th over, including that of de Leede as Netherlands failed to register a victory in their maiden T20 World Cup.

Brief scores: Pakistan 126/6 (Gull Feroza 63, Ayesha Zafar 32; Iris Zwilling 2-19) beat Netherlands 89 in 18 overs (Babette de Leede 30; Ayesha Zafar 3-13, Fatima Sana 3-12) by 37 runs.