Ireland (139-4, 19.4 overs) (Gaby Lewis 69*, Orla Prendergast 39; Ghulam Fatima 1-26) beat Pakistan (135-5, 20 overs) (Nida Dar 61; Orla Prendergast 3-10) by six wickets. Full scorecard here.
A change of format brought a rise in performance levels from Ireland as they put aside a 3-0 One Day International series defeat to secure a six-wicket win in the first T20 over Pakistan. The result puts Ireland 1-0 up in the T20 series in Lahore and is a first victory over Pakistan since 2014.
Orla Prendergast and Gaby Lewis put in the highlight displays, the former taking career-best figures of 3-10 before adding 39 off 25 with the bat, while Lewis’ unbeaten 69 carried her side home in a chase of 136.
Pakistan won the toss and elected to bat, but apart from Nida Dar’s effort of 61 showed no real intent in their innings. Prendergast’s triple-strike early doors put Ireland ahead of the game, a position they stayed in throughout as the build-up to next February’s T20 World Cup started with a famous win away from home.
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Ireland’s start with the ball was aggressive, skipper Laura Delany opting to give Prendergast all of her allotted four overs in one go as she looked to cash in on the moving ball. Not having Prendergast to come back later in the innings if wickets were needed was a risk but the move worked well initially, the Pembroke all-rounder’s ability to swing the ball away from left-handers removing both Muneeba Ali and Bismah Maroof.
Pakistan’s powerplay in general was poor. Aside from Prendergast’s double-strike, only Maroof showed any intent when Jane Maguire strayed onto her pads. Javeria Khan, returning to the side after a lengthy absence, struggled her way to four of 16 balls before Prendergast disturbed her timber, putting Khan out her out of her misery to pick up her third scalp to return career-best figures.
“I’m very happy, tried to keep it simple,” acknowledged Prendergast. “I tried to hit the stumps and keep my lengths nice and tight.”
Come the seven over mark, though, Prendergast’s spell was done and Ireland turned things over to their middle-overs bowlers. Plans changed slightly as containing rather than attacking became the order of the day, Arlene Kelly picking up Ireland’s fourth when Louise Little took an excellent catch at mid-on after a build-up of dot balls.
Ireland’s spinners were a touch expensive when Dar looked to hit back for Pakistan, the sweep shot being her weapon of choice as Eimear Richardson and Cara Murray were both flayed through the leg-side with that stroke. Murray in particular may well have been brought on earlier than the 12th over given Pakistan’s right-handed dominant line-up - her and Richardson’s combined figures of 0-43 off five overs were the closest Ireland came to a blot on their copybook.
Dar’s innings ultimately kept Pakistan in the game, rather than taking it away from Ireland. The hosts weren’t helped by the innings of Aliya Riaz, her run-a-ball 24 chewing up too many deliveries without any real acceleration while she also limited the deliveries faced by destructive power hitter Ayeesha Naseem, much to Ireland’s delight as Kelly continued her inexpensive form at the death.
If Pakistan were timid in the powerplay with the bat, Ireland were anything but as Lewis signalled her aggressive intentions with two boundaries in the first over. Recognising Ireland preferred pace on the ball, Pakistan skipper Maroof responded by bringing Dar’s off-spin into the attack. She accounted for Amy Hunter who picked out mid-on, but Prendergast entered the fray only to cut her first delivery to the fence.
Lewis and Prendergast combined to put on 55 for the second wicket, their efforts taking Ireland’s powerplay score to 52-1 (compared to Pakistan’s effort of 32-2), Ireland’s start with the bat going a long way to deciding the game. Prendergast was a nice foil to Lewis’ strong drives off pace, her ability to take down left-arm spinner Nashra Sandu with a maximum down the ground proving invaluable.
Sandu did have some sort of respite when Prendergast was stumped off her bowling, while Lewis’ poor call led to her captain Delany being run-out. Despite the wobble, Ireland stayed positive, Eimear Richardson coming in to sweep and drive her way to the boundary in a valuable cameo of 16.
Lewis was the constant throughout the innings, hitting nine boundaries in total, her last off Aiman Anwer taking Ireland home with with eight balls to spare.
“It’s brilliant to come back after the ODI series [defeat],” said Delany on the importance of her side’s win. “We’re in brilliant form in T20. The group is in great spirit at the moment so hopefully we can continue that.
“We’ve had good game plans it’s just about execution. It took us time to adjust to the conditions. Orla [Prendergast] started really well with the ball, took early wickets which we struggled with in the ODI series. In the batting, we had really good intent from the start.”
