In the ongoing ICC Women’s T20 World Cup Europe Region Division 2 Qualifier 2025, the Sweden Women’s Team registered their first win against the top-ranked Spain team for the in Women’s Twenty20 International (T20I) cricket.
Sweden won the toss and opted to bat first. Anya Viadya and Eman Hasim started off confidently before the former departed for 17(12), losing their first wicket for 22 runs. Wicket-keeper batter Elsa Thelander and skipper Kanchan Rana failed to get going, departing cheaply for 0 and 3.
Gunjan Shukla then joined opener Eman Asim who managed to spend time in the middle, guiding the team to a respectable total. Asim was the only standout batter in the side, scoring 30 runs and lower-order batters Hareer Chamto (6*) and Zara Mohammad (11*) scored important runs, helping Sweden post a challenging total of 104/7, giving something to their bowlers to bowl for.
It was a thorough bowling performance by the Espana Women, but it was Uswa Syed who dented the Sweden batting line-up picking two crucial wickets of Elsa Thelander and Kanchan Rana. It was now a task for the Espana Women to chase down the target of 105 against Sweden.
Spain in reply didn’t have a good start, losing both openers for 33 runs on the board. Sweden strengthened their hold on the game, dismissing the Spain middle-order cheaply, who collapsed from 1/24 to 4/37. Zara Mohammad provided the breakthrough early on in the innings.
Naomi Hillman was the only standout batter in the Espana side scoring 34* runs, none of the other batters could really rise up to the occasion. The only second most runs coming to the Espana Women were through extras. Sweden Women gave away a total of 23 extras while bowling at the Espana Women.
Overall, a complete bowling performance by the Sweden Women put brakes on the Espana Women batting lineup, restricting them to 91 runs for the loss of 8 wickets, losing the game by 13 runs.
Sweden’s fielding was outstanding, with Gunjan Shukla, Elsa Thelander, Eman Asim, and Kanchan Rana involved in four run outs. Gaya Jayawera and Rana also took key catches, all collectively playing a vital role in defending the total.
Eman Asim was the Player of the Match for her crucial knock of 30 runs with the bat, guiding the team to what proved to be a match-winning total.
With the win of the opening day of the competition, Sweden Women have kicked off their campaign with a bang. On the other hand, Espana Women have lost two of their early games in the tournament and will want to comeback really strong and make a statement.
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