Batters take a bow! Great stuff today from the Irish top three with openers Gaby Lewis and Amy Hunter putting on 110 for the first wicket. Lewis reaching 50 off 26 balls with boundaries coming on both sides of the wicket. With 87 off the first ten overs, the departure of both Hunter and Lewis in quick succession inevitably but a brake on the scoring but with Orla Prendergast taking up the reins, Ireland added a further 80 in the second ten. With Pakistan having a highest winning chase of 139 Ireland's 167/3 must surely have put doubts in the hosts minds. Scoreboard pressure told as opener Javeria Khan lost partners trying to keep up with the rate. When she departed it was left to captain Nida Dar to marshall the tail but it was too great a task even for her. A historic series win for Ireland after the disappointment of the earlier ODI's. When the batting comes off it is impressive, but come off it must, if the bowling, which was exposed and lacked threat in the longer form, is to have a total they can defend. But those are thoughts for another day. In the meantime it's celebrations in the Irish camp, a 2-1 win that could so easily have been 3-0. Well done the Girls in Green.

Ireland let this one slip through their fingers - literally! Ireland went into the game with an unchanged XI after Saturday's win and were asked to bat by Pakistan. There's a fine line to be drawn between being 'positive' and being 'injudicious', and at times today Ireland crossed it. Two wickets, Orla Prendergast and Amy Hunter, fell to stumpings off the widest of deliveries, both yards down the pitch. And another two, Gaby Lewis and Arlene Kelly were both out, caught off leading edges playing across the line towards the leg side. In the end the 118 total could, and probably should have been greater, given that a number of batters got decent starts. Pakistan were just as 'positive' in the opening overs of the chase, but pressure built after some tight overs from Ireland that saw run-outs claim the wickets of Javeria Khan and Bismah Maroof. But it was certainly not one of Ireland's best fielding displays, despite Nida Dar becoming the third run-out of the innings, already having been dropped, a straightforward catch in the deep, on 19. It was left to Ayeesha Khan to save the day for the hosts, her 25* coming off only 12 balls, assisted, it has to be said, by some sloppy Irish fielding. And she finished the game in style with 6 balls to spare, hitting the biggest Six of the match over long-off. All square in the 3 match series in a game that Ireland should have won.

A hugely postive approach from Ireland in this format, totally at odds with their careful 'build a score' attitude in the ODIs, brought its reward. Ireland made a dream start in the field with Orla Prendergast taking three wickets in her four over opening spell. But Nida Dar fought back for the hosts and her 57 run partnership with Aliya Riaz ensured that Ireland would have a tough chase on their hands, as 81 runs came in the second ten overs of the innings. Amy Hunter replaced Leah Paul at the top of the order but dragged a catch off Nida Dar to mid on early on. Lewis and Prendergast added 55 before Prendergast dragged her foot out of the crease sweeping and was stumped. A crazy call from Lewis, who swept straight to square leg and charged off for the single left a hapless Delany two yards short, and with 21 needed Eimear Richardson slog swept a catch in the deep, but by then there was no stopping the Irish charge to victory. They were always ahead of Pakistan in the chase, and surely their approach today will set the pattern to be adopted in the next two matches. Lewis ended 69* off 54 (9x4), but it was that opening 3 wicket burst from Orla Prendergast and her 39 runs off 25 balls that set up a historic win for the Girls in Green, and earned her the POTM award. Two more games to come, on Monday and Wednesday, and on today's performance Ireland have every right to believe that a series win, even a whitewash is possible.

Despite being given a great start by openers Leah Paul and Gabby Lewis, for the third time in the series Ireland failed to bat out their allotted 50 overs, if on this occasion, only by a single delivery. In a top-heavy innings Paul and Lewis added 84 for the first wicket and Amy Hunter and Paul a further 65 for the second. Paul became keeper Sidra Nawaz's second stumping within a few deliveries and 149/1 had suddenly become 151/3. There were still fifteen overs left in the innings, but only Eimear Richardson and Lara Delany's 5th wicket partnership, worth 41, provided any resistance as 5 wickets fell for 20 runs in the final overs. Leg-spinner Ghulam Fatima completing a maiden five-for, and left arm spinner Nashra Sandhu claiming two. It was Ireland's highest total of the series, but even this looked vulnerable to a strong Pakistan batting line up. Early success for Ireland as Muneeb Ali chopped on from Prendergast and Sidra Ameen played across the line to Jane Maguire and was dismissed for the first time in the series - her average 277! There was no luck however for Cara Murray, as in her third over keeper Waldron failed to hold two edges, and after that it was a case of untroubled progress for Pakistan as Shamas and Maroof built a partnership of 124. Both fell in quick succession to give Ireland a glimmer of hope, Pakistan needing 4 runs an over from the last 15 and with two new batters at the crease. But it was not be be as Omaima Sohail steered the hosts to a clean sweep in the series with nearly three overs to spare. Ireland's best performance of the series but the T20 matches coming up will be a test of their ability to score quickly enough to pose a threat to the hosts.

Not the start Ireland wanted after opting to bat after Friday's mauling. Leah Paul was bowled by Fatima Sana second ball of the innings, and then a becalmed Gaby Lewis tried for a quick single to mid-off, and was beaten by Aliya Riaz's direct hit. Friday's top scorers Laura Delany and Orla Prendergast could't repeat those performances but added 47 to take Ireland to 105 after 25 overs. Wickets fell to spin but Mary Waldron and Arlene Kelly put together a fifty partnership to give Ireland hope that 200 was again possible, but they fell just short. Pakistan showed no mercy and opened the batting again with Friday's centurions, Muneeba Ali and Sidra Ameen. No century today for Ali, as after a steady start, she fell to a Lewis catch off Eimear Richardson with 59 on the board. Ameen was on track for successive centuries but the fast scoring Maroof deprived her of that - Ameen has scored 267 so far in the series without being dismissed. Ireland's inabilty to pose a threat with the ball cruelly exposed again today, 2-0 to Pakistan with the final ODI to come on Wednesday.