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Sophie Ecclestone could play first-class cricket for a men's side, believes Alex Hartley

There is a lot of talk in society regarding women's cricket compared to men's. However, England's left-arm spinner Sophie Ecclestone nipped such discussion in the bud and continues to raise her stocks every time.


According to England cricketer and broadcaster Alex Hartley believes that no.1 ranked ODI bowler Sophie Ecclestone is "so good" that she could play first-class cricket for a men's side.


Before Ecclestone's splendid form against South Africa, which opened that gate to enter the ICC Women's World Cup finals, Alex Hartley mentioned that she had seen "a whole new level" from her fellow left-arm spinner during the tournament.


Alex Hartley's column, published in the Telegraph, stated that "There has been a lot of talk in the commentary box in recent weeks – who is better, Jack Leach or Sophie Ecclestone?"


"It is a debate we have been having a lot. You would not often compare men's and women's cricketers, but I genuinely believe Ecclestone could play first-class cricket for a men's side because she is just so good. In this World Cup, I have seen a whole new level from her in terms of her mindset."


In the ongoing ICC Women's World Cup, the in-form Sophie Ecclestone showed her class and proved her worth so many times. She returned with the career-best ODI figures of 6/36, which featured her in an elite list of the leading wicket-takers in the tournament. She has scalped 20 wickets in just 8 games at an average of 12.85.


Notably, Sophie Ecclestone surpassed Australia's Jess Jonassen and moved to the top spot in the ICC Women's ODI rankings. She also topped the chart in the ICC Women's T20I rankings for bowlers.


"She has that fighting spirit you need to be the best," Hartley said. "From the start of the tournament, I said Ecclestone would be the leading wicket-taker and that she was the best bowler in the world, and both are now officially true as she tops the world rankings as the best ODI bowler in the women's game. Some of it is down to natural talent, but she works incredibly hard on her bowling. Her points of difference and why she is so special begin with her height as a spinner."


After attaining her supremacy in the Women's ODI rankings, Sophie Ecclestone said that "For me, I want to be one of the best spinners that have ever played for England. I want people to look back in 30/40 years and say: 'do you remember Sophie Ecclestone that played that long ago.' "I want people to remember my name and just be one for the history books." 

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PAK vs AUS | 2nd ODI | Babar Azam, Imam-ul-Haq earn Pakistan an astounding win to level series

The second ODI of the ongoing Pakistan-Australia series witnessed a high-scoring affair on Thursday. The hosts outscored the Aussies at Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore, to pull off a record run-chase to level the series at 1-1. Pakistan opted to bowl first, and initially, their decision seemed to have backfired. However, Australian batters left no stone unturned and showed some outrageous strokeplay to record a mammoth total of 348 runs. Although Aaron Finch again became a victim of Shaheen Shah Afridi, Travis Head and Ben McDermott went about their business with an aggressive approach, sending the ball towards every corner of the ground. While Head fell 11 runs short of a second consecutive ton, McDermott brought up his maiden ODI century. Marnus Labuschagne and Marcus Stoinis provided Australia with the much-needed impetus in the middle and slog overs. Even though the visitors lost wickets regularly while trying to score quick runs at the end, Sean Abbott managed to hit quite a few boundaries as Australia gave Pakistan a target of 349 runs. With a momentous task to achieve, Pakistani openers Fakhar Zaman and Imam-ul-Haq delivered what was asked for. The swashbuckling pair of southpaws had one eye on the scoring rate while ensuring they did not throw away their wickets with the other. After Fakhar got dismissed, Babar Azam arrived at the wicket to lay his contribution to the run-fest. The talismanic skipper took the matter into his own hands as fours and sixes rained upon at Lahore. Imam smashed his second hundred on the trot but soon departed with the score reading 229/2. However, Azam continued in his miraculous fashion with a marvellous strike-rate. He tormented the Aussie bowlers to bits and joined the list of century-scorers in the game. Eventually, he perished for a fantastic 114, with Pakistan still needing 41 runs to close in on the record run-chase. Mohammad Rizwan also joined in with a handy 23-run knock, but the Khushdil Shah finish brought a sigh of relief into Pakistan's camp. Khushdil, in partnership with Iftikhar Ahmed, went past Australia's total as Pakistan chased the target in the penultimate over and levelled the series 1-1. The two teams will now face off in the series decider, scheduled on April 2 at Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore. Brief scores: Australia- 348/8 (50 overs) Ben McDermott 104 (108), Travis Head 89 (70) Shaheen Shah Afridi 69/4; Pakistan 352/4 (49 overs) Babar Azam 114 (83), Imam-ul-Haq 106 (97); Adam Zampa 71/2 Pakistan beat Australia by 6 wickets