Bangladesh women’s cricket team suffered its third successive loss at the ICC Women’s Twenty20 World Cup as a New Zealand team, inspired by veteran Suzie Bates, trounced them by 71 runs at Newlands in Cape Town on Friday.
Bates hit an unbeaten 81 in a New Zealand total of 189-3 – the highest of the tournament. Bangladesh replied with 118-8, reports news agency AFP.
In Friday’s double-header, West Indies also notched their first win, beating Ireland by six wickets with a ball to spare.
With the defeat, Bangladesh is now out of the semifinal race with one group game still to play.
Bangladesh earlier lost to India and Sri Lanka.
Their final game in the World Cup will be against South Africa on Tuesday.
On Friday, Bates and former South Africa batter Bernardine Bezuidenhout (44) laid the foundation for New Zealand with a first-wicket stand of 77 in 8.4 overs, while Maddy Green thrashed an unbeaten 44 off 20 balls to help Bates add 73 in the last seven overs.
Bates scored her runs off 61 balls and hit seven fours and a six.
Bangladesh never looked in contention to chase down the total as Shorna Akter’s 31 off 22 balls and Sobhana Mostary’s 30 off 38 balls got them barely over the 100-run mark.
White Ferns hope against hope
New Zealand went into the eighth day of the T20 World Cup with virtually no hope of reaching the semi-finals.
By the end of the day they had a slight chance of progressing, although it will require something close to a cricketing miracle.
Captain Sophie Devine admitted that with her side still fourth in the group, reaching the semi-finals was a long shot.
But she said they would seek to repeat Friday’s dominance when they play their final group match against Sri Lanka in Paarl on Monday.
“That’s the way we want to play our cricket. I’m really proud of this group but we’ve got a big game to go,” said Devine.
New Zealand lost their first two matches by big margins. They were bowled out for 76 by Australia and 67 by South Africa – the lowest totals of the tournament.
They still have a considerable net run rate deficit and their prospects remain slim.
They will need Australia to defeat South Africa by a heavy margin in Gqeberha on Saturday and then New Zealand will need a big win against Sri Lanka.
Even then South Africa will have an opportunity against Bangladesh on Monday to make sure they remain above the White Ferns.
Bates, who became the first woman from any country to reach 1000 runs in T20 World Cups, said the New Zealand players were “absolutely gutted” after their first two matches.
“We talked about how we wanted to play and we talked about hitting hard and straight down the ground. What pleased me most was that we stuck to exactly what we talked about.”