Lauren Winfield and Tammy Beaumont, England’s prolific openers, laid the foundation for the summer’s whitewash of Pakistan with another century stand at Chelmsford.
The pair put on 108 for the first wicket in 13 overs in the third of the NatWest Women’s IT20 to take their partnerships over the six-match one-day series to 791 runs.
Winfield was particularly hard-hitting from the start and followed her career-best 74 in the first T20 game with 63 off 40 balls with nine fours and a six. However, she tweaked a hamstring while turning for a second run and did not field.
Beaumont, meanwhile, had reached 484 runs against the tourists when she was finally out for 55, made up of four fours and a six from 47 balls.
England’s 170 for five was always going to be too many for a Pakistan team who have been overwhelmed in white-ball cricket in the last three weeks. They lost two of the 50-over games by more than 200 runs, and the third by seven wickets, and never threatened the targets set in the three T20s.
Bismah Maroof offered some resistance, as she had in the second one-dayer when hitting 61, by equalling the top Pakistan T20 score with a 41-ball 35, but they finished 57 runs short.
Heather Knight, the England captain, said: “There was a lot of noise around the squad before the series and the girls have responded. The cricket we have played has been really entertaining to watch. Everyone is feeding off the success of each other and it’s been a really nice place to be. I think we’ve been really ruthless as well. We’ve really enjoyed our cricket and to finish 6-0, with such a good performance today, I’m really pleased.
“Loz and Tammy have developed into a really good partnership. They bounce off each other and their partnerships have gone better as they’ve gone along. For me that has been the real plus point of this tour, that opening partnership and how they’ve never got tired of scoring runs.”
England won the toss for the fifth time in six games and batted. Winfield hit Aiman Anwar for successive fours off the last two balls of the opening over and Beaumont followed suit from the first two of Anam Amir’s first over.
The onslaught did not stop there. Winfield added three more in successive balls from Anam Amin, cutting one backward of square, another straight and the third over long leg. The pair had found the rope seven times in the first 15 balls of the innings.
When Winfield went for another lofted drive she was fortunate the ball dropped just short of Muneeba Ali running in at deep mid-on. And she had a second life on 33 when she gave a sharp caught-and-bowled chance to Mir. Beaumont had been largely overshadowed by her partner, but came down the pitch to hit Mir through mid-wicket for four to end the power-play overs on 55 without loss.
Beaumont took up the cudgels after Winfield’s dismissal and reached her half-century when she pulled Bismah Maroof to midwicket for a single. She had taken 41 balls to get there. But she went soon after when she was lbw to a full toss from Maroof.
Knight managed to clear Nida Dar on the long-on boundary to claim a six off Yousef. But four balls later she lost Natalie Sciver, who went for a single from the non-striker’s end, turned and was run out for a country mile by Javeria Wadood’s throw.
Knight departed next ball, sweeping Nida Dar to the square-leg boundary where Yousef took an outstanding catch high to her right and England had lost three wickets in 14 balls. And a superb direct throw by Nida Dir on the long-on boundary did for Danni Wyatt off the last ball, three deliveries after she lofted Yousef for six.
Lauren Winfield said: “You can never get sick of scoring runs. Me and Tammy have played a lot of cricket together. We’ve been around each other from a very young age, we probably used to compete against each other for the opening spot. We’re growing as a partnership and learning about each other, both on and off the field.
“We complement each other because we hit different areas. They say that if you looked at our wagon wheels for they are literally quite opposite. That’s always nice as an opening partnership. I guess it is difficult then for oppositions setting fields or executing plans if you are hitting different areas. So I guess we complement each other in that sense. Plus we both love batting. We want to be the ones putting our hands up and getting the runs."
Tash Farrant, playing her first international of the summer, allowed Pakistan just a single off the opening over, and took the first wicket with the fourth ball of her second over when she caught and bowled Nahida Khan.
Pakistan struggled to get the England bowlers away, and failed to score off 25 balls in the power-play overs. At the end of the six overs they were 28 for one. Javeira Khan and Maroof showed a sense of urgency and put up 50 off 51 balls before Javeira failed to beat Wyatt’s throw and was out for her second successive score of 23, the latest off 18 balls.
Iram Javed was spilled by Wyatt at extra cover, but she lasted just one more ball when she drove Alex Hartley to Fran Wilson on the long-on boundary to give the bowler her first international wicket. Maroof departed trying to work the ball to leg to overhaul the Pakistan T20 record and was bowled by Hartley.
Muneeba Ali was stumped by Amy Jones off Danni Hazell, Jenny Gunn held on to a return catch from Nida Dar, who had hit 18 off 13 balls, and Wyatt held a skier from Aiman Anwar off the last ball.