Tigresses win T20 World Cup opener against Scotland

|| CF DESK ||

Bangladesh women’s team have started their T20 World Cup campaign perfectly as Tigresses beat Scotland in the opener by 16 runs at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium on Thursday.

The win meant that Bangladesh broke a winless run of 16 matches in T20 World Cups, they have managed only two victories before against Sri Lanka and Ireland back in 2014 in Bangladesh.

Hosts Bangladesh consistently broke through Scotland's top order as they defended a total of 119. Fahima Khatun struck first, tempting Saskia Horley (8 off 12) into a stumping by Nigar Sultana.

A promising partnership between Scotland's Bryce sisters was cut short when Marufa Akter bowled Kathryn Bryce (11 off 11) in the final over of the powerplay.

Scotland positioned themselves for a solid chase but faltered when Ailsa Lister, attempting to accelerate the scoring, lofted a catch to Rabeya Khan off Ritu Moni for 11 off 12, leaving Scotland at 49/3 halfway through their innings.

But wickets continued to fall as Scotland struggled to up the run rate in the face of a controlled Bangladesh bowling performance, most notably from the spinners.

While Sarah Bryce remained there was some hope for Scotland, but she couldn’t do it all on her own and ended unbeaten on 49* from 52, with none of the lower order able to find the boundary and put the Scots in contention.

They finished on 103/7, still 16 runs short of the target, missing out on what would have been a famous upset in their first-ever World Cup match.

Pacer Ritu picked up two wickets, while four others -- Marufa Akter, Nahida Akter, Fahima Khatun and Rabeya Khan -- scalped one wicket each. Nahida today became the second youngest bowler to bag 100 T20I wickets.

Earlier, Bangladesh won the toss and opted to bat as openers Shathi Rani and Murshida Khatun started with positive intent, but tight bowling from Scotland kept their scoring around six runs per over for the first four overs.

The breakthrough came in the fifth over when Khatun mistimed a lofted shot off Kathryn Bryce, handing Scotland their first wicket.

Sobhana Mostary, at No. 3, maintained an aggressive approach, building a partnership with Rani. After reaching close to 5.5 runs per over by the halfway point, the pair looked to increase the pace but lost Rani to a deep catch off Fraser. Taj Nehar was run out soon after due to a mix-up with Mostary.

Late wickets from Olivia Bell and Saskia Horley swung the momentum back to Scotland in the death overs, though Bangladesh managed to reach 119/7, thanks to a quick 10* off 5 balls by Fahima Khatun. Horley recorded career-best figures of 3/13.