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Could it have been fortune favouring the English squad, or the simple inevitability of scheduling an international cricket competition amid Sri Lanka's rainy period?

Either way, England got away with one against Pakistan on Wednesday - in a major way.

They were three wins from three, smoothly progressing through the group stage and only winless Pakistan standing in their way to entering crunch matches against India and Australia without a loss.

It should have been smooth sailing: 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.

England were thoroughly outplayed during twenty-five overs prior to the initial rainfall in Colombo, collapsing to seventy-nine for seven while Pakistani fast bowlers skillfully exploited a helpful but not unplayable surface, followed by spin bowlers taking over on England's fragile middle order.

Then the rain cruelly denied the Pakistani team a notable victory once the weather improved to give them an hour of hope with sufficient duration to reach 34-0 chasing 113 runs, The English team's relieved expressions contrasted with captain Fatima Sana's despondence as the Colombo outfield became submerged.

This was England's lucky escape and they have no choice but to learn from it.

From here on, it's improbable to get away with another.

Pakistani Team Reveals Obvious Vulnerability

This tournament's fixture list is tricky. Focusing particularly on England, the squad is competing in their preliminary matches across four different venues, each offering different conditions which essentially requires learning on the job.

Versus the Sri Lankan team just four days ago, England were on a different surface that provided turn, bounce and very little for the seamers. This surface differed, while English batters failed to adjust rapidly to it.

Pakistan had clear plans and executed them, consistently testing England's fragile defences through moving the ball sharply into the right-handers.

Diana Baig's successful delivery against Tammy Beaumont deviated dramatically off the pitch, the opener playing an extravagant leave just to witness the ball clatter into her off stump.

Nat Sciver-Brunt's wicket deviated two and a half degrees from the surface, not dissimilar to movement you would expect from off-spin bowling, with the English captain's response with open arms and a look of disbelief said it all - they probably had not prepared for nor expected this.

Amy Jones similarly lost her wicket to Fatima's bowling, that delivery deviating two degrees off the pitch, and the ball shaped 1.6 degrees for Heather Knight's lbw.

This marked the initial occasion in any format that an England top seven had all been bowled or lbw since early twentieth century, demonstrating Pakistani bowling accuracy in targeting the stumps.

Following England's reduced thirty-one over innings, 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

Australian and Indian Teams Await Their Turn

England travel to Indore for their next two games to face their most challenging rivals against India this Sunday, and versus Australia October twenty-second.

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

Heather Knight's determined approach which rescued them against Bangladesh and Nat Sciver-Brunt's quality ensured they posted a winning total against the Sri Lankan side, yet when both departed quickly facing Pakistan, the English team couldn't rebound.

{"Nat Sciver-Brunt and Heather Knight have scored more runs between them than their team-mates combined at this tournament," Former championship player Alex Hartley said on broadcast coverage. "This statistic speaks volumes, and both were absent during the opening game. That represents a worry."

Beaumont and Jones have struggled against the swinging ball - stands of six, 24 and 13 following the chase of just 70 in their initial match versus South Africa - but Charlotte Edwards' first move in charge was to show faith and re-promote Jones, making it improbable she'll separate the combination.

Following the top two batters, the team's third-most productive player has been number eight Charlie Dean scoring a solid twenty-seven not out in a tense chase against Bangladesh, a handy 19 against Sri Lanka and she top-scored with 33 against Pakistan.

Occasional signs of potential from Alice Capsey at seven however Sophia Dunkley and Emma Lamb are struggling to start their innings against spin in the middle batting positions.

Lamb has 18 runs in three innings while Sophia Dunkley managed twenty-nine, both losing their wickets to spin, with Lamb being required to play an unfamiliar role.

When batting in the top three, Lamb maintains a forty-four average in 61 innings including five hundreds. These current three performances are the first she has ever played batting sixth professionally in One Day International cricket.

Danni Wyatt-Hodge is England's unused batter among substitutes, having previously batted in middle positions over several seasons, so it will be interesting to observe the duration the Lamb experiment continues.

England may have dodged a humiliating setback here, but will be aware things are not going to get any easier.

India and Australia await. Any wobbles against those two and England's campaign rapidly deteriorate.