🏏ICC Women's T20I WC 2024: Group B - Match 20: EngW vs WIW 🏏 - Page 9

Opting to bowl, SA restricted West Indies to a below-par score of 118 with Mlaba (4/29) being the pick of the bowlers. In reply, South Africa hardly broke a sweat. Laura Wolvaardt was quick to get off the blocks, she hit 6 boundaries in the powerplay as her team scored 43/0 in that phase. Ramharack created a chance against Wolvaardt in the 8th over but failed to hold onto a return catch. Post that, Tazmin Brits upped the ante. Both the SA openers brought up their fifties and wrapped up the proceedings with 19 balls to spare.

An utterly one-sided contest. SA's bowlers set it up and their opening pair did the rest. Wolvaardt blazed away early, establishing a nice tempo and putting the bowlers under pressure. Brits grew into her innings as the middle overs dawned, and the pair registered the highest-ever partnership against the West Indies in the Women's T20 World Cup.

The best thing that came out of that second innings, from a West Indies POV, was that they dragged the game till the 18th over. They lacked penetration and it often seemed too easy for the South African batters, especially once they had taken stock of Matthews.

Player Of The Match

Nonkululeko Mlaba, SA-W

4/29

MVP

Marizanne Kapp, SA-W

Congratulations to Nonkululeko Mlaba for winning the PoTM award.

Congratulations to South Africa for their 10 wicket victory against WIW.

Nonkululeko Mlaba | Player of the Match: This is very special for me as I know I am playing for a lot of people back in South Africa. Feels good. For me, it was about targeting the stumps, really went well today. The support from my mates, always special. I was sitting in the changing room, they (Wolvaardt and Brits) did well and I am so happy for them.

WI-W118/6

SA-W

(17.5/20 ov, T:119) 119/0

SA Women won by 10 wickets (with 13 balls remaining)

Curtains down on this one-sided Group B contest. There's one more game lined up here in Dubai - India vs New Zealand - which promises to be a cracking encounter. Switch tabs to follow the action. See you there...

Laura Wolvaardt: Not that easy, one of the harder knocks. Not ideal (over-rate), had to squeeze in a lot of spin. Tough to manage with the heat, we were able to make it. Excellent throughout. To win it with ten in the shed is amazing as well.

Hayley Matthews: Obviously a very disappointing game, not the way we wanted to start the tournament. We want to pick the pieces up quickly and bounce back. It's a long tournament. They bowled really well. We were able to build in some partnerships, but not able to strike the way we wanted to.

🏏ICC Women's T20I WC 2024: Bangladesh vs England: Group B - Match 6 - at Sharjah Cricket Stadium, Sharjah on 05/10/2024 @ 7:30 PM IST🏏

'Hopefully, the wicket remains like this', said Bangladesh skipper Nigar Sultana after Bangladesh's memorable win in the tournament opener against Scotland. Sultana was visibly very emotional after the win, which was Bangladesh's first in the T20 World Cup in a decade. It was a surface that was ideal for her bowlers who could exploit the slow-ish nature to keep Scotland to just 103. Given this is going to be a day game again, Bangladesh would back themselves to deliver a similar performance with the ball against the mighty England batting line up.

However, just a top bowling performance might not be enough for the Asian side to cause an upset. They huffed and puffed on their way to 119 against Scotland and against a heavyweight like England, Bangladesh would ideally need more. On the other hand, England would back themselves to get off to a winning start. Acclimatization shouldn't be an issue given they arrived in the UAE for a two-week camp prior to the tournament. They have been backed as one of a few sides that can possibly put an end to Australia's dominance in the competition.

In order to live up to that billing, making an early statement would be vital. Winners in the inaugural edition, England haven't won the tournament since but have always managed to at least reach the last four stage in every edition barring one. Can they top that this time?

October 5 at T20 World Cup: Spin-heavy England meet Bangladesh

Bangladesh dropped four catches in win over Scotland

Bangladesh vs England -Sharjah, 6pm local time

Bangladesh squad: Nigar Sultana (capt, wk), Nahida Akter, Murshida Khatun, Shorna Akter, Ritu Moni, Sobhana Mostary, Rabeya Khan, Sultana Khatun, Fahima Khatun, Marufa Akter, Jahanara Alam, Dilara Akter, Taj Nehar, Shathi Rani, Disha Biswas

England squad: Heather Knight (capt), Lauren Bell, Maia Bouchier, Alice Capsey, Charlie Dean, Sophia Dunkley, Sophie Ecclestone, Danielle Gibson, Sarah Glenn, Bess Heath, Amy Jones (wk), Freya Kemp, Nat Sciver-Brunt, Linsey Smith, Danni Wyatt

Tournament form guide: " In what is a 'home' World Cup for Bangladesh, they started things off on a positive note, with a 16-run win against Scotland, after they had also beaten Pakistan in the second warm-up. England started their warm-ups with a 33-run loss to Australia, before beating New Zealand by five wickets.