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Was it luck favouring the English squad, or merely the inevitability of scheduling a cricket tournament during monsoon season?

Either way, the English team narrowly escaped against Pakistan this past Wednesday - in a major way.

The squad had been three wins from three, smoothly progressing through the group stage with just a struggling Pakistani side blocking their path to entering crucial encounters against India and Australia without a loss.

It should have been straightforward progress: The English team has historically lost just one match against Pakistan, in a T20 back in 2013, and never in the 50-over format.

However, rather than taking momentum into those two big games against the tournament favourites, they have been jolted by a shuddering wake-up call.

The English side was completely dominated during twenty-five overs prior to the initial rainfall in Colombo, slumping to 79-7 as Pakistan's seamers skillfully exploited a challenging yet manageable pitch, before the spinners got to work on England's fragile middle order.

Then the rain cruelly denied Pakistan a famous win once the weather improved to give them an hour of hope with sufficient duration to reach 34-0 chasing 113 runs, England's smiles of relief juxtaposed by skipper Fatima Sana's disappointment while the Colombo playing field flooded.

This represented England's fortunate reprieve leaving them no option except to absorb its lessons.

Moving forward, it's improbable they'll escape another such situation.

Pakistani Team Reveals Obvious Vulnerability

The schedule for this World Cup is tricky. Focusing particularly on England, the squad is competing in their group-stage games at four separate locations, all providing varying playing conditions demanding essentially learning on the job.

Against Sri Lanka just four days ago, the English played on a distinct pitch but one which offered spin and lift with minimal assistance for the seamers. This one was different, while English batters failed to adjust rapidly to its characteristics.

The Pakistani side possessed definite strategies and executed them, constantly challenging England's fragile defences through moving the ball sharply into the right-handers.

Diana Baig's dismissal against Tammy Beaumont jagged back off the seam, the opener playing a dramatic non-shot just to witness the ball clatter into her off stump.

Sciver-Brunt's dismissal deviated two and a half degrees from the surface, not dissimilar to movement you would expect from an off-spinner, and the England skipper's reaction with open arms and a look of disbelief said it all - they probably had not prepared for nor expected this.

Amy Jones was also bowled by Fatima, that delivery deviating two degrees off the pitch, while another ball moved 1.6 degrees resulting in Heather Knight's leg-before decision.

It was the first time across all cricket formats that an England top seven were all either bowled or leg-before since January 1908, demonstrating Pakistani bowling accuracy aiming consistently at the wickets.

By the end of England's revised 31 overs, the batting side encountered 61 balls which would have hit the stumps. They lost eight wickets to them while managing only twenty-three runs.

Image source: Cricket Analytics/Broadcast

India and Australia Lie in Wait

The English squad journeys to Indore for their upcoming two matches to take on their toughest opponents in India, on Sunday, and Australia on 22 October.

Neither are ideal opponents to be facing with batting weaknesses needing correction however the local pitches are anticipated as flatter and friendlier to batters.

It was Knight's gritty determination which rescued them against Bangladesh and Sciver-Brunt's class ensured they posted a competitive score against the Sri Lankan side, but when both fell early against Pakistan, England could not recover.

{"Nat Sciver-Brunt and Heather Knight have accumulated greater runs collectively compared to their teammates total during this competition," Former championship player Alex Hartley commented on broadcast coverage. "This statistic speaks volumes, and both were absent during the opening game. That represents a worry."

Tammy Beaumont and Amy Jones have faced difficulties against the swinging ball - stands of six, 24 and 13 following the chase of just 70 in the opener against South Africa - but Charlotte Edwards' first move was to demonstrate confidence and re-promote Jones, making it improbable she will disrupt the pair.

After Sciver-Brunt and Knight, England's next best batter has been number eight Charlie Dean with a steady 27 not out in a tense chase against Bangladesh, a handy 19 against Sri Lanka and she led scoring with thirty-three versus Pakistan.

Occasional signs of potential from Alice Capsey batting seventh however Sophia Dunkley and Emma Lamb face difficulties beginning their batting versus spin bowling in the middle batting positions.

Emma Lamb has accumulated eighteen runs across three batting attempts while Dunkley has 29, each of their dismissals to spin, with the former being asked to perform an unaccustomed position.

When batting in the top three, Lamb maintains a forty-four average over sixty-one innings including five hundreds. These current three performances represent her initial experience batting sixth professionally in One Day International cricket.

Danni Wyatt-Hodge is England's unused batter among substitutes, having previously batted in middle positions for a number of years, so it will be interesting to see how long the Lamb trial persists.

England may have dodged an embarrassing slip-up here, yet remains conscious that circumstances won't become less challenging.

India and Australia await. Any wobbles against those two could see England's tournament could quickly fall flat.