Stars and Conquerors were declared joint winners of the National Women’s One-Day Tournament after the final ended tied, with both teams dismissed for 218 here at Faisalabad’s Iqbal Stadium on Sunday.
Stars were once cruising to the finish line with 40 required off the last 10 overs and seven wickets in the bag before they imploded, losing 7-39 in 9.3 overs. At 206-8 in 47 overs, Stars took six runs off Fatima Sana’s over, bringing the equation down to seven needed off the last two overs.
Left-arm spinner Saima Malik’s penultimate over saw Stars’ Fatima Zahra hit a four off the third ball as they needed three off eight balls. Fatima was stumped on the last ball of the over before missing the previous two balls.
Joint-player of the tournament Umm-e-Hani made sure Stars don’t register successive title wins, giving away two runs off the first three balls as Anam Amin’s bid to take the second run on the third restricted the defending champions to 218 all out.
Stars’ pursuit of the 219-run target began with the 53-run opening stand between Gull Rukh (35) and Warda Yousaf (26) before both fell to Hani. Best batter of the tournament, Sidra Amin (51) and Kaynat Hafeez (37) then added 82 runs for the third wicket, taking their team to 151-3.
Sidra – who finished with 472 runs in nine matches – became Hani’s third victim of the day as she finished with 3-29 in 9.3 overs. Stars’ collapse began with the fourth wicket falling at the score of 185 before the chase went haywire.
For Conquerors, Saima Malik finished with figures of 4-42, and Ayesha Bilal picked up two wickets in her 10 overs, giving away 39 runs.
Earlier, Conquerors lost Gull Feroza at the start for seven, with the opening partnership curtailed to 29. Saira Jabeen (43) then added 44 runs for the second wicket with Sidra Nawaz (20). Player of the match Iram Javed (51) and Fatima Sana (33) put on 56 runs for the fourth wicket.
From 145-3, Conquerors lost seven wickets for 73 runs as Stars restricted them just above the 200-run mark with their pacers Syeda Masooma Zahra (3-38) and Diana Baig (2-32) taking five wickets among them, while Anam Amin and Anosha Nasir picked up two and a solitary scalp, respectively.
Hani and Amber Kainat contributed to the Conquerors’ total with 17 each.
Player of the match – Iram Javed (Conquerors)
Player of the Tournament – joint – Umm-e-Hani (108 runs and 17 wickets – Conquerors) and Syeda Aroob Shah (195 runs and 12 wickets – Stars)
Best bowler of the Tournament – Anam Amin (21 wickets in 9 matches – Stars)
Best batter of the Tournament – Sidra Amin (472 runs in 9 matches – Stars)
Best wicketkeeper-batter of the tournament – Muneeba Ali (332 runs and eight catches, one stumping – Invincibles)
