Pakistan on brink of Cricket World Cup elimination after NZ abandonment

Pakistan are on the brink of elimination from the World Cup after their match against New Zealand was abandoned because of rain.

The tournament’s bottom side are yet to win in five games, and suffered their second successive abandonment in Colombo.

In contrast to the first abandoned match, where they were well placed to beat England, Pakistan were struggling in this fixture, finding themselves at 92-5 at the 25-over mark, after which the covers came on for good.

The R. Premadasa Stadium is playing host to all of Pakistan’s fixtures and the majority of Sri Lanka’s, but Colombo has been blighted by rain, with this match the fourth of nine staged there to fail to reach a result.

The abandonment means an India win against England on Sunday will ensure Pakistan cannot qualify for the knockout stages despite having two group games left to play.

Even if England are victorious, Pakistan will still need to defeat both South Africa and Sri Lanka and hope a large number of fixtures fall in their favour.

Meanwhile, New Zealand move level with India, who occupy the fourth knockout spot, on four points but having played one game more, with the two sides set to meet on Thursday.

Sophie Devine decided her side would bowl after winning the toss, and New Zealand removed openers Omaima Sohail and Muneeba Ali in the space of four balls to leave Pakistan 30-2 in the seventh over.

Sidra Amin then cut straight to Eden Carson off Lea Tahuhu, with the players coming off for rain immediately afterwards.

Resuming after 90 minutes on 52-3, Natalia Parvaiz holed out to Devine off Carson’s bowling, while Melie Kerr bowled Fatima Sana.

Aliya Riaz, top-scorer with an unbeaten 28, began to rebuild with Sidra Nawaz, but the umpires were forced to call the covers on again and, after almost three hours of waiting for the rain to subside, the match was abandoned.

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