The women’s team of Romania and Malta marked their T20I debuts playing in the inaugural edition of the Women’s Continental Cup that was hosted by Cricket Romania on the 27th and the 28th of August. The bilateral 3-match T20I series saw Malta hand a 3-0 defeat to Romania at the Moara Vlasiei ground in Ilfov County.
SQUADS: Women’s Continental Cup 2022
Romania Women’s Cricket Team
Alexander Ciric, Andrea Stanacu, Andreea Vasilecu, Emanuela Boata, Ashaani Erandathi, Chamila Priyadarsha, Clara Popa, Elena Predescu, Izabela Singuran, Roxana Ciric, Stefania Ludmila, Stefania Tudorache
Malta Women’s Cricket Team
Anupama Rameshan, Anvy Vimal, Cucku Kurian, Donnaver Bejec, Jessica Alice Rymer, Katerina Demetrova, Sayeda Israt Jahani, Shamla Cholasseri, Charlotte Sultana Evans, Heila Du Toit, Remya Vipin, Thambi Sarada
27-Aug-2022, 1st T20I
Malta : 105/4 (20 overs)
Romania : 73/10 (18.5 overs)
Malta put in to bat first had a very defensive start as they lost openers Shamla Cholasseri on 4(28) in the 8th over and a few overs later, Jessica Alice Rymer on 14(26) with 50 on board. Sayeda Israt Jahani was in and proactively clicked her innings and alongside Anupama Rameshan, stitched a 51-run stand before the latter departed on 11(25) being run out with 101 on board. Charlotte Sultana Evans departed for a 3-ball duck and the pair of Katerina Demetrova and Sayeda closed out the innings remaining unbeaten on scores of 4(2) and 42(40) respectively posting a total of 105.
Romanian, Stefania Tudorache registered the most economical spell of 4-0-13-0 and the 3 wickets were picked one each by Clara Popa, Andreea Vasilescu and Chamila Priyadarsha.
Romania in reply lost a bunch of early wickets and closed out their powerplay overs on the score of 22-3. A ball later, they lost a wicket more and then a little resistance from Roxane Ciric and Stefania Ludmila saved Romania from having a collapse. After the little stitch, both set batters, Stefania on 12(18) and Roxane on 20(48) departed in quick succession and the side was 6 down with 54 on board. Romania were bowled out for 73 and Malta had Anupama Rameshan register the best spell with figures of 3.5-0-6-2. The rest among wickets were Charlotte with a couple, Remya, Thambi and Katerina with a wicket each to their name.
28-Aug-2022, 2nd T20I
Romania : 71/6 (20 overs)
Malta : 72/4 (10.3 overs)
Romania put in to bat first lost openers, Roxane and Clara, on scores of 1(11) and 7(15) respectively. The pair of Emanuela and Andrea got a few runs before departing on scores of 21(41) and 13(29). It then was single digits scores but 23 extras helped Romania close their innings out on 71. Malta again had Anupama Rameshan with the best figures of 4-1-5-3, Shamla Cholasseri and Remya Vipin too bagged a wicket each.
Malta in reply lost opener Shamla Cholasseri on 6(11) and Jessica alongside Katerina shared a little run stand that saw curtains with the wicket of Katerina on 7(9). Sayeda soon was run-out on 5(2) and Charlotte departed on 1(11) but Malta had Jessica joined by Heila and the two remained unbeaten on scores of 19(29) and 9(14) respectively. A bonus 25 runs via extras topped the scorecard in handing Malta the win in 10.3 overs.
28-Aug-2022, 3rd T20I
Romania : 84/5 (20 overs)
Malta : 85/2 (12.4 overs)
Romania opting to bat first lost opener Clara early on a 2-ball duck. Stefania Ludmila and Emanuel Boata (retired hurt) shared a little stand before the two departed after having starts on 10(13) and 11(18) respectively. A middle-order collapse had Andrea and Ashaani in the middle, the two stitched a little stand before the latter departed on 11(17). 29 extras topped the scorecard and with Andrea 10*(20) and Andreea 1*(1) Romania closed out on 84. Shamla topped the wickets chart with figures of 3-0-9-3 and Sayeda with figures of 4-1-9-1 enjoyed the most economical outing.
Malta Women’s Cricket Team successfully managed to beat Romania in all 3 games making it a historic Win#CricketTwitter pic.twitter.com/lycVjGPDOj
— Female Cricket (@imfemalecricket) August 30, 2022
Malta in reply lost Shamla Cholasseri early on 5(19) but the pair of Jessica and Sayeda played well to not let the game slip away from their hands. The pair couldn’t close out as Jessica on 13(20) walked back and Katerina joined Sayeda. The two finished unbeaten on scores of 6(13) and 31(36) respectively as Malta having got 30 runs via extras got to the required quite comfortably in 12.4 overs with 8 wickets in hand.
Malta with the 3-0 series have left Romania with a lot of thinking to do before they next play Greece and Serbia in the inaugural edition of the Women’s Balkan Cup that’s scheduled to start in a few days.