Agencies
Sharjah
England opened their Women’s T20 World Cup campaign with a 21-run victory over Bangladesh in Sharjah on Saturday, despite an unconvincing batting performance.
The low-scoring trend of the tournament continued as Heather Knight’s side successfully defended their 118-7, with Bangladesh crawling to 97-7 in response.
Spin dominated again on a slow, sluggish pitch as Linsey Smith and Charlie Dean took two wickets each.
England’s batters also struggled on the surface, with opener Danni Wyatt-Hodge top-scoring with 41 but they were generally wasteful against Bangladesh’s slow, wily bowlers.
Though conditions were in the bowlers’ favour, England threw several wickets away by committing to an aggressive approach throughout.
Opener Maia Bouchier was caught at mid-off for 23, Nat Sciver-Brunt was lbw walking down the pitch for two, Alice Capsey was caught reverse-sweeping for nine and Wyatt-Hodge was stumped trying to hit down the ground.
Five of the wickets fell to spin with two to Ritu Moni’s medium pace, and while it was not their finest innings, it did not prove too costly as England’s own spinners produced an exceptionally disciplined display to bamboozle a poor Bangladesh batting line-up.
Sobhana Mostary batted brilliantly for her 44, but had little support from elsewhere as they failed to keep up with the run-rate at any stage in the face of England’s consistency.
Earlier, Australia began their T20 World Cup defence with a six-wicket win over Sri Lanka, who slumped to a second defeat in less than 48 hours to leave their semi-final hopes hanging by a thread. Australia kept Sri Lanka to under 100, and knocked off the runs inside 15 overs.
But their speed of run-scoring was not enough to put Australia on top of the group ahead of New Zealand on NRR, which could prove crucial in a pool where they have already been two upsets.
Scores
England 118 for 7 (Wyatt-Hodge 41, Fahima 2-18) beat Bangladesh 97 for 7 (Mostary 44, Smith 2-11) by 21 runs; Australia 94 for 4 (Mooney 43*, Perry 17, Sugandika 1-16) beat Sri Lanka 93 for 7 (Nilakshika 29*, Schutt 3-12, Molineux 2-20) by six wickets.
