Naeem Khan Niazi
LAHORE, Feb 29 (APP):All-rounder Aliya Riaz has said that Pakistan women cricketers were in high spirits and rearing to do well in the Sunday’s match against South Africa in Sydney to keep their chances of a maiden semi-final spot in the ICC Women’s cricket World CUP 2020 alive.
Talking to APP from Canberra on Saturday, she said the girls were undaunted by the defeat against English women, adding that it was time to put the defeat behind and move forward with focus on the matches against South Africa and Thailand.
On the defeat against England, she said: “It was a tough match as we could not restrict England under 140 due to certain mistakes on the field and similarly we could not produce good batting display in the run chase which resulted in the loss against a strong English women’s side”.
About the lack-luster performance by the Pakistani batters, she said very player goes out to do well for the team, adding that Javeria Khan was hitting the ball quite handsomely but a flurry of wickets pushed us out of the competition.
“The ball was coming on the bat and I did my best to produce a good knock for the team”, a humble Aliya said about her impressive all-round performance against England. Aliya Riaz took one wicket for 17 runs off 2 overs while she produced a blistering knock of 41 laced with five boundaries and one six in a losing cause.
To a question, she said that the team would take the field with a plan against South Africa on Sunday, adding that the girls were keen to perform as good against South Africa as they had produced in the match against West Indies in their first match of the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup.
On the final eleven against South Africa, Aliya said the decision on the final eleven against SA was to be taken by the team management, adding that Sadia Iqbal bowled well in the
match against England.
Pakistan Women cricketers did well against South Africa in their last five T20 matches series in South Africa and lost the series 2-3 after leading at 2-1 last year.
