LONDON: India captain Mithali Raj scored her sixth One-day International hundred as she led her side into the last four of the ICC Women’s World Cup during a crushing 186-run win over New Zealand in Derby on Saturday.

Raj made 109 in an India total of 265-7 that also featured Veda Krishnamurthy’s 70 off just 45 balls and Harmanpreet Kaur’s 60.

New Zealand, one of the pre-tournament favourites, then collapsed spectacularly to 79 all out — their lowest ever Women’s World Cup completed total — with left-arm spinner Rajeshwari Gayakwad taking five for 15 in her first match of the tournament.

This was a virtual quarter-final between the two sides, with tournament hosts England, reigning champions Australia and South Africa already into the semi-finals ahead of Saturday’s final group matches.

“I’m extremely happy,” said Raj. “For a couple of us, this will be our last World Cup, so our first aim was to enter the semi-finals. I’ve always dreamt of getting runs for my country — that hunger never dies.”

Dejected New Zealand captain Suzie Bates admitted: “We were nowhere near as good as we needed to be. That’s how it’s been in pressure games this tournament — we haven’t turned up when we needed to.

“There’s going to be lot of reviews of our team because we were expected to make the semi-finals,” added Bates after the White Ferns failed to make the top four for the first time since the tournament’s inception in 1973.

India’s win saw them book a place in the second semi-final against Australia in Derby on Thursday, with England playing South Africa in Bristol on Tuesday.

The final is at Lord’s on Sunday, July 23.

England, surprisingly beaten in their opening match by India, topped the all-play-all group standings after defeating the West Indies by 92 runs in Bristol.

England captain Heather Knight led from the front with 67 in a total of 220-7.

That proved more than enough as the West Indies were held to 128-9 in their full 50 overs.

Australia, who lost by just three runs to arch-rivals England, finished second in the standings on net run-rate after seeing off South Africa by 59 runs at Taunton.

Pakistan end campaign with seven straight losses

Despite being without injured captain and star batswoman Meg Lanning, Australia still made 269 thanks to fifties from Nicole Bolton (79), Ellyse Perry (55) and Beth Mooney (53), with South Africa’s Sune Luus taking 5-67.

Laura Wolvaardt struck 71 for South Africa but the Proteas were dismissed for 210 as stand-in Australia skipper Rachael Haynes took 2-12 and Perry and Jess Jonassen also grabbed two wickets each.

Meanwhile, Sri Lanka won their first match of the tournament right at the last, defeating a Pakistan side who lost all seven of their league-round games by 15 runs in Leicester.

Brief scores of other matches:

At Bristol: England beat West Indies by 92 runs.

ENGLAND 220-7 in 50 overs (H.C. Knight 67, T.T. Beaumont 42, L.A. Marsh 31 not out, J.L. Gunn 24 not out; A.S.S. Fletcher 3-33); WEST INDIES 128-9 in 50 overs (H.K. Matthews 29, C.N. Nation 23; N.R. Sciver 3-3).

At Derby: India beat New Zealand by 186 runs.

INDIA 265-7 in 50 overs (M. Raj 109, V. Krishnamurthy 70, H. Kaur 60; L.M. Kasperek 3-45, H.M. Rowe 2-30); NEW ZEALAND 79 in 25.3 overs (A.E. Satterthwaite 26; R. Gayakwad 5-15, D.B. Sharma 2-26).

At Taunton: Australia beat South Africa by 59 runs.

AUSTRALIA 269 in 48.3 overs (N.E. Bolton 79, E.A. Perry 55, B.L. Mooney 53, A.J. Blackwell 33; S. Luus 5-67, M. Kapp 2-26, D. van Niekerk 2-41); SOUTH AFRICA 210 in 50 overs (L. Wolvaardt 71, T. Chetty 37, S. Ismail 26, M. du Preez 20; R.L. Haynes 2-12, J.L. Jonassen 2-40, E.A. Perry 2-47).

Final league standings

(Tabulated under played, won, lost, no result, points, net run-rate):

England 7 6 1 0 12 +1.29

Australia 7 6 1 0 12 +1.00

India 7 5 2 0 10 +0.66

South Africa 7 4 2 1 9 +1.18

New Zealand 7 3 3 1 7 +0.30

West Indies 7 2 5 0 4 -1.52

Sri Lanka 7 1 6 0 2 -1.09

Pakistan 7 0 7 0 0 -1.93

Scoreboard

SRI LANKA:

M.D.N. Hansika b Diana 1

G.W.H.M. Perera c Sidra b Diana 13

A.C. Jayangani c Sana b Kainat 27

H.A.S.D. Siriwardene c Asmavia b Sadia 17

D. Manodara c Sidra b Diana 84

P.M. Weerakkody c Iram b Sana 5

L.E. Kaushalya c Sana b Asmavia 28

K.A.D.A. Kanchana not out 21

S.S. Weerakkody not out 4

EXTRAS (B-2, LB-5, W-14) 21

TOTAL (for seven wkts, 50 overs) 221

FALL OF WKTS: 1-4, 2-18, 3-64, 4-82, 5-98, 6-174, 7-207.

DID NOT BAT: I. Ranaweera, H.H.C. Gunaratne.

BOWLING: Asmavia Iqbal 9-0-54-1 (4w); Diana Baig 10-1-41-3 (5w); Sana Mir 10-1-36-1 (1w); Kainat Imtiaz 10-0-46-1 (3w); Sadia Yousuf 10-1-32-1 (1w); Javeria Khan 1-0-5-0.

PAKISTAN:

Ayesha Zafar c Jayangani b Gunaratne 8

Nahida Khan b Gunaratne 10

Javeria Khan run out 24

Nain Abidi run out 57

Iram Javed c Kanchana b Jayangani 15

Sana Mir lbw b Gunaratne 14

Kainat Imtiaz c P. W’kody b Kanchana 11

Asmavia Iqbal not out 38

Sidra Nawaz c and b Gunaratne 5

Diana Baig c Jayangani b Kanchana 12

Sadia Yousuf b Ranaweera 0

EXTRAS (B-4, LB-1, W-7) 12

TOTAL (all out, 46.4 overs) 206

FALL OF WKTS: 1-15, 2-43, 3-54, 4-107, 5-134, 6-135, 7-159, 8-172, 9-204.

BOWLING: S.S. Weerakkody 6-0-34-0; Gunaratne 10-2-41-4 (4w); Kaushalya 3-0-9-0; Ranaweera 9.4-2-17-1 (1w); Siriwardene 5-0-41-0 (2w); Kanchana 7-0-31-2; Jayangani 6-0-28-1.

Result: Sri Lanka won by 15 runs.

UMPIRES: S. Redfern (England) and K. Cross (New Zealand).

MATCH REFEREE: S.J. Davis (Australia).

PLAYER-OF-THE-MATCH: Chandima Gunaratne.

Published in Dawn, July 17th, 2017