Everyone around the globe is ready for the T20 World Cup and it was the host and defending champions West Indies who took on Asian Champs Bangladesh in Providence Stadium, Guyana in the third match of the tournament.
It was first night match of the tournament and after assessing the conditions Bangladeshi Captain Salma Khatun decided to bowl first. Both teams came in the ground with following 11’s
West Indies Playing 11 :
Hayley Matthews, Deandra Dottin, Stafanie Taylor(C), Shemaine Campbelle, Natasha McLean, Britney Cooper, Kycia Knight(wk), Anisa Mohammed, Afy Fletcher, Shakera Selman, Shamilia Connell
Bangladesh Playing 11 :
Shamima Sultana(wk), Ayasha Rahman, Jahanara Alam, Fargana Hoque Pinky, Nigar Sultana Joty, Rumana Ahmed,Sanjida Islam, Fahima Khatun, Lata Mondal, Salma Khatun(C), Khadiza-Tul Kubra.
West Indies sent a powerful opening pair Deandra Dottin and Hayley Mathews who were in good touch in recent series against South Africa which pushed Natasha McLean down the order who usually opens for them.
Deandra Dottin hit a six down the ground in the first over of the match showing her intention from very beginning. But both of them couldn’t do much in the match as Jahanara Alam got Hayley Mathews caught at Mid Off in the third over and the saying that “one brings two” got right as it ended Deandra Dottin’s inning who got caught at point on the very next ball of Alam. While Jahanara failed to take hat-trick and but the host were in big trouble as they lost their openers too early and they were further struck by another blow when Captain Khatun got Campbelle LBW in the next over.
Now all the responsibilities were on shoulders of Captain Taylor, she added 18 runs with McLean when the former got bowled by Rumana Ahmed on a yorker in the 9th over. Pressure was mounting on the host, they just managed to make 16 in next 28 balls after which Britney Cooper got out when she tried to hit big shots in order to release pressure. At this time they were on 50-5 in 13 overs. Next Batter Kycia Knight made quick 32 runs off 24 balls which put the host in much better position while other struggled to make any impact. West Indies put 106 runs on board which was not a winning total but worth fighting for when the crowd is behind them.
Bangladesh bowlers put a great effort to restrict the Windies to 106 only, Medium pacer Jahanara Alam was impressive early on as she took 3 wickets in her quota of 4 overs while the rest of the job were done by the spinners. They chased down similar total against India in the Asia Cup Final and it won’t be suprising if they succeed again.
Shamaiama Sultana and Ayasha Rahman opened the innings and it was Selman who helped Windies to get an early breakthrough in the first over. Up Next was Jahanara Alam, she alongside Ayasha struggled to rotate the strike. Also Windies were bowling tight lines and as a result Selman got another wicket in the 5th over. Now Bangldesh were on back foot as they needed 96 on 90 balls. So required run rate was increasing and so was the pressure and Bangladesh lost another wicket in the 6th over. After all this it was Deandra Dottin’s show, she first got Faragana Hoque Caught&Bowled and then she clean bolwed four batswomen Nigar Sulatana, Rumana Ahmed, Lata Mondal and Salma Khatun in her spell of four overs. Deandra’s pace proved to be too quick for Bangladeshi Batswomen , no one reached even double figures and their innings ended on 46 runs .
As a result West Indies won the match by 60 runs.
Deandra Dottin was adjudged Player of the Match for her 5 wicket haul.
Now Bangladesh’s dream to reach Semi Final seems impossible as they will face England in their next match on 13th and there are lot problems specially in their
batting department that needed to addressed.
While windies will take on South Africa in their second encounter of group stage on 15th of November and they will be aiming to top this group.
Match 1 Summary – Centurion Harmanpreet, bowlers power India to 34-run win over New Zealand
Match 2 Summary – Healy and Mooney shines as Australia beat Pakistan by 52 runs in Guyana