Pakistan women beat Ireland by 38 runs in a low-scoring thriller to win the opening One-Day International encounter of the ICC Women’s World Cup 2025 Qualifiers on Wednesday.
On a hot day in Lahore, Pakistan’s Diana Baig and Nashra Sandhu starred with the ball, picking up four and three wickets each to bowl the Irish women’s team out for 179.
Seamer Diana got the prized scalp of opener Sarah Forbes in her first spell and then came back to clean up the tail by getting the wickets of Christina Coulter Reilly, Louise Little and Arlene Kelly.
Left-arm spinner Nashra got the wickets of Irish captain Gaby Lewis, Amy Hunter and Laura Delany, not letting the Irish top-order push on towards the target after a decent start.
The final wicket for Ireland fell to a run-out, with Skipper Fatima Sana lobbing the ball to Nashra at the stumps to end the Ireland innings by running out Cara Murray.
None of the Irish batters were able to cross the 50 mark, with captain Lewis and batter Hunter scoring 44 each.
Earlier, the hosts were bowled out in the penultimate over of the innings and could not capitalise on a decent start, being just three down for 153 at one stage in the match.
Pakistan’s Aliya Riaz top scored for the hosts, hitting 52 of just 58 deliveries in an innings where she hit four boundaries and a six.
Sidra Amin was the other half-centurion for Pakistan, getting her 50 of 110 balls and scoring three boundaries in the process.
For Ireland, Jane Maguire was the pick of the bowlers, getting three wickets while giving away just 33 runs in her quota of 10 overs. Her scalps included Gull Feroza, Muneeba Ali and wicket keeper Sidra Nawaz.
Gull is making her ODI debut in this match, having already featured in T20 internationals for Pakistan.
Pakistan are at the top of the table after their win with a net run rate of 0.78 in the six-team ICC event, which includes Bangladesh, Ireland, Scotland, Thailand and West Indies alongside hosts Pakistan. It features a single-league round-robin format with the matches taking place at Lahore’s Gaddafi Stadium and LCCA ground from April 9 to 19.
The tournament will decide the two qualifiers for the 2025 Women’s World Cup, to be held later this year in India.
Both the teams look almost equal in strength with 10th and 11th ranking on the ICC table, respectively. West Indies, Bangladesh, Scotland and Thailand are the other participating teams in the event.
In head-to-head ODI record, Pakistan have held a clear edge over Ireland, winning 15 while losing six.
Interestingly, the Irish women from 1997 to 2003 won all six ODIs against their Pakistan counterparts while one game was abandoned. Since 2008 to date, however, Pakistan have held an immaculate record against them. It was here in Lahore that both the teams clashed last time in a three-match bilateral series in 2022 when the hosts comfortably swept the series.
Having won both their warm-ups against Thailand and West Indies, Pakistan — who are hosting an ICC women event for the first time — look in good shape to earn a place in the top two positions of the qualifying event to reach the main event of the World Cup.
Lahore’s temperature, which touched 41 degrees Celsius on Tuesday, is not a good sign for the six participating teams, who may find it significantly tough to give their best in scorching heat. However, cloudy weather has been forecast for Wednesday.
Pakistan, who are competing in the Qualifier for the fourth time, qualified for the World Cup on all three occasions.