Women's World Twenty20: Pakistan beat Ireland, Australia defeat New Zealand

Ireland suffered their second defeat from two games in the Women's World T20 with a 38-run loss to Pakistan.

Pakistan captain Javeria Khan hit a brilliant 52-ball 74 not out as her side made 139-6 from their 20 overs.

Clare Shillington got Ireland's chase off to a quick start with 27 from 25 balls but they struggled to score off Pakistan's spinners and ended on 101-9.

Ireland remain bottom of Group B after the defeat while Pakistan's first win of the tournament keeps them third.

The match in Guyana presented Ireland with their most realistic chance of a win, which would be their first in a World T20.

Ireland are the lowest-ranked team in the West Indies at 10th in the world with Pakistan the next lowest in Group B at seventh.

Ireland fall well short

Ireland made a good start with the ball as they restricted Pakistan to 20-1 at the end of the six-over powerplay with seamer Lucy O'Reilly in particular impressing.

But in the ninth over Ireland missed an opportunity to dismiss Javeria which proved crucial.

The Pakistan captain hit a shot in the air to long-on where Shillington should have taken a catch but she misjudged the ball's flight and ran in, and, despite an attempt to backpedal, the ball bounced just inside the boundary before going for four.

At that point Javeria had nine from 16 deliveries but she went on to hit the highest score by a Pakistan player in a Women's World T20 with 11 boundaries, guiding Pakistan to their highest total in a World T20.

One positive in the bowling performance from Ireland was the display of O'Reilly, who took three wickets in the final over to finish with 3-19.

When Shillington was at the crease it looked like Ireland had a chance but the once opener fell they lost wickets at regular intervals and failed to find the boundary often enough, despite 30 from Isobel Joyce.

Nashra finished with outstanding figures of 2-8 from four overs while leg-spinner Sana Mir and seamers Aiman Anwer and Aliya Riaz each took two wickets each.

Meanwhile, Australia reached the semi-finals by beating New Zealand by 33 runs, their third win of the tournament.

Alyssa Healy's 53 helped Australia reach 153-7 while early wickets saw the Kiwis all out for 120, despite resistance from opener Suzie Bates with 48.

• Australia v New Zealand scorecard

'Good cricket, but only good in patches' - what they said

Ireland captain Laura Delany: "We are really disappointed. We came here with a lot of belief that we could win this game but we didn't put up enough to get us over the line - 120-130 was par on this wicket. We just didn't have a big enough partnership. We need to look at dot balls because we didn't have enough scoring areas."

Pakistan captain and player of the match Javeria Khan: "A good win, but still we need some improvement. We can be better in the first six overs. it was a good fielding effort as we can't afford mistakes in this match."

Ex-England batter Lydia Greenway on Test Match Special: "Ireland have played good cricket, but only good in patches - such as Lucy O'Reilly's bowling and Isobel Joyce's run-out. The batting is a concern as in T20 cricket you want to play all around the wicket - these girls just need to be playing more games."