Spinners come to party as England defeat Bangladesh
Sharjah, United Arab Emirates, AFP: Spinners Linsey Smith and Charlie Dean took two wickets apiece as England defeated Bangladesh by 21 runs for a winning start to their Women’s T20 World Cup campaign on Saturday. England’s strategy to play four spinners paid dividends as the 2009 champions restricted Bangladesh to 97-7 on a slow track in Sharjah as they managed to defend their lowest total in T20 World Cups.
England had made 118-7, riding on a 40-ball 41 by opener Danni Wyatt-Hodge. Middle-order batter Sobhana Mostary played a lone hand for Bangladesh, making 44 off 48 balls, including a huge six off Dean over deep square leg.
The result was a disappointment for Bangladesh, who won against Scotland in the tournament opener on Thursday for their first T20 World Cup win in a decade.
“We missed a good opportunity to beat a good side. Our bowlers did a good job but our batters disappointed,” said Bangladesh captain Nigar Sultana.
“On this kind of a surface, we needed to have a good partnership. We did not have a good powerplay, we gave away wickets.”
England, who chose to bat first, started off cautiously before Wyatt-Hodge and Maia Bouchier (23) opened up to play some memorable shots.
“It was tough out there, conditions were tough for batting and boundary-hitting. Wyatt-Hodge and Bouchier did well,” said England skipper Heather Knight.
“We targeted 135-140, that is what we prepared for.”
Bouchier hit two fours on the trot in the fifth over off Marufa Akter as England raced to 36 runs off the first five overs. Rabeya Khan dropped Bouchier on 16 off Marufa at point but returned to pick up her wicket, with Nahida Akter taking a catch at mid-on.
Bangladesh struck again with the dangerous Nat Sciver-Brunt (two) being trapped leg-before by Fahima Khatun in the eighth over. England suffered another blow when Knight (six) tried to go for a drive down the ground but missed it completely to be bowled out by Ritu Moni.
| Scoreboard | |
| England Maia Bouchier c Akter b Khan 23 Danni Wyatt-Hodge st Sultana b Akter 41 Nat Sciver-Brunt lbw b Khatun 02 Heather King b Moni 06 Alice Capsey c Akter b Khatun 09 Amy Jones not out 12 Danielle Gibson c Sultana b Akter 07 Charlie Dean st Sultana b Moni 04 Sophie Ecclestone not out 08 Extras (w6) 06 Total (7 wickets; 20 overs) 118 Did not bat: Sarah Glenn, Linsey Smith Fall of wickets: 1-48 (Bouchier, 6.4ov), 2-53 (Sciver-Brunt, 7.6ov), 3-73 (Knight, 11.2ov), 4-76 (Wyatt-Hodge, 12.1ov), 5-90 (Capsey, 15.5ov), 6-101 (Gibson, 18.2ov), 7-110 (Dean, 19.4ov) Bowling: Marufa Akter 3-0-20-0, Nahida Akter 4-0-32-2, Fahima Khatun 4-0-18-2, Rabeya Khan 4-0-15-1, Ritu Moni 4-0-24-2, Shorna Akter 1-0-9-0 Bangladesh Shathi Rani c Ecclestone b Smith 07 Dilara Akter lbw b Dean 06 Sobhana Mostary lbw b Dean 44 Nigar Sultana run out 15 Shorna Akter b Glenn 02 Taj Nehar b Smith 07 Ritu Moni b Sciver-Brunt 02 Fahima Khatun not out 05 Rabeya Khan not out 02 Extras (lb1, nb1, w5) 07 Total (7 wickets; 20 overs) 97 Fall of wickets: 1-16 (D. Akter, 3.2ov), 2-17 (Rani, 4.1ov), 3-52 (Sultana, 11.3ov), 4-55 (S. Akter, 12.2ov), 5-80 (Nehar, 16.2ov), 6-85 (Moni, 17.4ov), 7-91 (Mostary, 18.3ov) Bowling: Nat Sciver-Grunt 4-0-20-1, Linsey Smith 4-1-11-2, Charlie Dean 4-0-22-2, Sophie Ecclestone 4-0-21-0, Sarah Glenn 4-0-22-1 |