Saturday 22 July 2017 10:14, UK
Nat Sciver and Heather Knight pummelled Pakistan with centuries as England Women racked up their highest ever World Cup score, at Leicester, before winning by 107 runs on the Duckworth-Lewis-Sterne method.
Sciver struck 137 off just 92 balls and shared a thumping third-wicket stand of 213 with skipper Knight (106) in exactly 30 overs as the hosts hit back in emphatic fashion to rack up 377-7 after their surprise opening defeat to India on Saturday.
The total, which featured seven sixes, is England's second highest ODI score of all time behind only the 378-5 they scored against Pakistan last summer.
Pakistan reached 107-3 off 29.2 overs in replay as Katherine Brunt returned 2-21 before rain returned for the second time to end the match prematurely.
England overcame an edgy start after play was delayed by 30 minutes due to rain - Tammy Beaumont (14) dropped at slip off the first ball of the match, bowled by Nain Abidi.
The opener failed to capitalise and England were under pressure at 42-2 in the 10th over before Sciver and Knight stepped on the gas.
Sciver was the first to reach fifty, off just 36 balls, as she pillaged four successive boundaries off Nashra Sandhu making Knight's half-century off 65 deliveries look rather more sedate.
The Surrey Stars hitter topped her own effort with three sixes in a row off Asmavia Iqbal after completing a 76-ball century with a back-foot punch - dishing out the punishment after Knight had holed out off the spinner.
Danni Wyatt (42no), earning here 50th cap, and Fran Wilson (33) kept up the momentum with a sixth-wicket stand of 59 off just 5.5 overs as Pakistan's fielding became increasingly sloppy.
In total, 158 runs came off the final 15 overs of the innings leaving Pakistan facing a mammoth chase which suffered an early setback when Nahida Khan chipped Brunt's seventh ball to midwicket.
Pakistan were soon two down - Brunt knocking Javeria Khan's middle stump out of the ground with a slower ball - and it should have been three only for Sarah Taylor to drop Asmavia Iqbal when she had scored just two.
Her reprieve was shortlived as Alex Hartley trapped her lbw with her second ball for just five and although Ayesha Zafar countered with an unbeaten half-century, Pakistan remained were well behind the rate when the rain arrived.
Live coverage of the ICC Women's World Cup continues on Wednesday when South Africa take on New Zealand. Watch our free live stream on skysports.com and the Sky Sports mobile app and iPad from 10.20am.
