Bangladesh women’s cricket team started their campaign in the Women’s World T20 Qualifier with an emphatic eight wickets victory against Papua New Guinea (PNG) in the 1st match of Pool ‘A’ at VRA Cricket Ground, Amstelveen in Netherlands on Saturday.
Bangladesh chased a target of 85 runs, scoring 86 for 2 in 14.5 overs as Nigar Sultana hit a boundary in the match’s last ball off Mairi Tom.
Nigar Sultana [11* off 11b; 2×4] and Fargana Hoque [17* off 26b; 1×4] shored the vessel to a win with their unbeaten 3rd wicket partnership of 22 off 20 balls after the dismissal of opener Shamima Sultana, who was caught by Mairi Tom off Vicky Ara’a on 64/2 in 11.3 overs.
Player of the match Shamima top-scored [35 off 36b; 5×4] for the side and shared a partnership innings of 41 off 5.5 overs with Ayasha Rahman [15 off 17b; 2×4] in the opening stand before Ayasha was caught by Tanya Ruma off skipper Pauke Siaka.
Skipper Pauke Siaka (1/13) and Vicky Ara’a (1/13) got the wickets for PNG.
Sent it to bat first in the 4th match of the qualifiers event, PNG ended on 84 for 6 in 20 overs where Veru Frank [27 off 26b; 3×4] was the top-scored for the side.
Tanya Ruma [23* off 31b] played an unbeaten innings while Kopi John [15 off 32b; 2×4] to be other double digit scorers for the side.
Jahanara Alam conceded no runs in the innings 1st over before Salma Khatun made the first breakthrough in her first delivery dismissing opener Sibona Jimmy, keeping PNG on zero in the 2nd over.
Bangladesh bowlers continued their domination in the innings, capturing five wickets for 39 in 13.1 overs before Tanya Ruma and Veru Frank shared a partnership innings of 42 off 6.4 overs in the 6th wicket.
The 6th pair ended just leaving one ball of the innings to play on 81/6 as Veru Frank was caught by Rumana Ahmed off Fahima Khatun.
Panna Ghosh bowled out Kopi John and dismissed skipper Pauke Siaka, caught by Fahima Khatun, keeping the opponent side on 29/4 in 10.4 overs and 23/3 in 8.1 overs respectively.
Panna Ghosh (2/15), Fahima Khatun (1/10), Rumana Ahmed (1/12), skipper Salma Khatun (1/12) and Jahanara Alam (1/15) were the wicket takers for Bangladesh.
In their remaining fixture, Bangladesh will face Netherlands and United Arab Emirates on July 8 and 10 respectively.
