🔗 Share this article Torrential Showers Spares The English Team and Shatters Pakistani Team Hopes of Landmark Victory Pakistan came agonisingly close to their inaugural ODI win against England at the Colombo venue midweek, getting to an unbeaten 34 going after a revised Duckworth-Lewis-Stern goal totaling 113 runs prior to torrential downpours cut short their chances to achieve a milestone. England's Batting Struggles England’s batting has faltered from crisis to crisis during this World Cup – they needed rescuing through Heather Knight's efforts versus Bangladesh and Nat Sciver-Brunt's performance against Sri Lanka – on this occasion it appeared that their vulnerabilities would come back to trouble them, as they collapsed to 79 for seven during the first 25 overs. Showers and Resumption After an initial rain delay of almost four hours, England returned to score another 54 runs – but Pakistan’s openers Ali and Sohail seemed to be handling easily the target, aided by the unavailability of the English team's primary attackers the pair of Bell and Ecclestone because of illness. Solely more showers saved England’s blushes. “Pakistan bowled brilliantly and posed serious challenges for us to gain any momentum in the game,” the English skipper the captain told Sky Sports. "Our performance was insufficient and we’ll hold our hands up. Everyone’s practising really well and it seems we need figuring out how to transfer that to matches.” Tournament Implications The no-result signifies that The English team continues their path to progress to the semi-finals as long as they win one of their final three group matches against India, Australia and New Zealand. Playing Surface and Bowling Excellence This competition has so far been a haven for spinners, but here it was prodigious swing that posed difficulties against the English opening lineup, following heavy rain a day before which washed out the latter part of Sri Lanka’s match against New Zealand. Pakistan’s young captain Captain Sana bowled an impressive period recording 5 overs, 1 maiden, 19 runs, 3 wickets, comprising a wicket-taking maiden at the start, bowling Amy Jones through the defense using an inswinging delivery. Key Moments and DRS Drama Knight once more preserved her wicket through a well-timed DRS review against Sana that would have missed the leg stump, but then the Pakistani skipper to strike twice during the subsequent over using two additional curving deliveries – the first of which Sciver-Brunt edged onto to her stumps, and a second which hit Knight right in front. Previously, The English opener had opted not to play to Diana Baig and was dismissed by a delivery that came back which hit the top of her off-stump, while it was the left-arm bowling from Sadia Iqbal that accounted for both Dunkley and Lamb. Competition Organization Concerns Concerns could surface concerning the determination to host part of the World Cup at Colombo amid the wet period, given that this is the third canceled match at the venue – but England will simply breathe a sigh of relief as they progress toward their next match in Indore.