Sri Lanka bounced back from yesterday’s defeat to South Africa by beating Netherlands by seven wickets today at the ICC Women’s World Cup Qualifier Group A fixture at Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium in Dhaka, Bangladesh.
Joan Alexander-Serrano top scored with 29 for USA. Photos by Shiek Mohamed
In the longest game of the day, South Africa took on USA at BKSP 3 and the African side put on an impressive performance with the bat to post a target of 344 for the Americans.
Shandre Fritz alongside Tricia Chetty put on a first wicket partnership of 200 before Chetty departed for 95 after she was clean bowled by Samantha Ramautar. Fritz was then joined by former captain, Cri-zelda Brits with the duo adding just three more runs before Fritz departed for 93, leaving Brits to partner new captain Mignon du Preez.
The side continued to add runs to the total and when its 50 overs were up, du Preez and her side were confident that they had set a target the Americans would struggle to chase down.
Doris Francis’ side made just 145-9 in its 50 overs with Joan Alexander-Serrano providing the highest score, just 29, in what was a scratchy attempt by the Americans to reach a huge target. Nadia Gruny and latecomer Triholder Marshall both failed to score runs at the top of the order while Francis managed just three.
Dane van Niekerk proved the pick of the South African bowlers, with the 18-year-old from Pretoria claiming 3-29 in an economical 10 overs by the spin bowler. Francis’ side did not having the batting depth to take on the South African bowling attack, nor in the end did it have the overs, falling 198 runs short of its target.
Tomorrow is a rest day with play resuming on Thursday (17 November) when Japan will play Ireland at Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium, USA face Netherlands at Khanshaheb Osman Ali Stadium, West Indies take on Pakistan in an ODI at BKSP 2 and Zimbabwe will play Sri Lanka at BKSP 3.
Meanwhile, hosts Bangladesh also recovered from its loss to Pakistan yesterday by crushing Japan by ten wickets at BKSP* 2. Salma Khatun’s side skittled Japan for 38 runs and knocked off the target in just 4.4 overs without losing a batter in the process.
Samantha Ramautar was the most successful bowler for team USA, picking up two wickets.
The second day of the tournament also saw victories once again for Pakistan and South Africa, with the two teams beating Ireland and USA respectively.
At Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium, Dilani Manodara and Helmien Rambaldo led their sides in front of a crowd of 300 in the sides’ one-day international game in Dhaka.
Rambaldo elected to bat having won the toss and it was a choice the 31-year-old may have regretted after her side failed to post more than 61 runs on the board or make it to 50 overs.
Sri Lanka’s spin bowling attack of Suwini de Alwis, Sherina Ravikumar and Udeshika Prabhodani proved to be the key players for the innings with the trio taking two wickets each. Rambaldo’s top order failed to make runs, with opener Marijn Nijman departing for a duck after having her stumps rearranged by Sripali Weerakkody.
Kerry-Anne Tomlinson along with Esther Lanser and Denise Hannema attempted to stabilise things but Manodara’s bowlers had other plans in mind. With some strong fielding and tight bowling the side had the Dutch all out for just 61 as the sun begin to rise to its midday position.
In response, the Sri Lankans made 47 towards the total before lunch, but not before the team had lost Yasoda Mendis and Eshani Kaushalya, the former being clean bowled for 26 by Laura Brouwers.
After lunch it took Chamari Attappattu and de Alwis to knock off the remaining runs but not before Attappattu was stumped by Miranda Veringmeier as the 21-year-old fell just short of her mark. It left Weerakkody and de Alwis to finish the innings and give Sri Lanka an early finish ahead of tomorrow’s rest day.
Sri Lanka’s coach Harsha de Silva said: “I am pleased with the way the bowling attack is going here in Dhaka however our batting needs to improve. We shouldn’t have lost three wickets on our way to making such a low target and it’s something I want the side to work on ahead of our next match.”
Manodara added: “I’m extremely pleased with our spinners performances today but our fast bowlers also did well against the Dutch. We fielded really well and that can be seen both by the catches we took and the two run-outs, showing that in the field we’re meeting our targets.
“The conditions here are similar to Sri Lanka so we’re working with our strengths, which are our spin bowlers who claimed plenty of wickets in our loss yesterday and also in today’s win.”
The diminutive captain also admitted that the next two fixtures are important: “We set a target of beating South Africa, who we saw as the toughest opposition in our group and unfortunately we lost to them yesterday.
“We’ve now beaten Netherlands and the way this tournament is designed, even if we finish third in the group we could qualify for the Women’s World Cup, but I don’t want us to finish third, so we need to beat Zimbabwe and USA in our next two games and make sure we finish second at least.”
Rambaldo was disappointed with her team’s performance today with both bat and ball: “We simply did not bat well enough against Sri Lanka and credit has to go to them as their bowling was superior, they are a tight unit. I know we can play better as a side, especially with our batting which failed us today.
“If I had to take one positive from today’s game I would say it was our fielding, plus we managed to claim three wickets before they made their target, which is a good thing. The pitches here definitely help the ball turn and we prepared for those types of conditions whether it be facing spin or bowling it, but today we simply were not up to the mark.
“Zimbabwe bowled bad balls which helped us score runs yesterday, Sri Lanka bowled very few bad balls making it far harder to score runs,” concluded Rambaldo.
Hosts Bangladesh bounced back from yesterday’s defeat to claim a resounding victory over the East-Asia Pacific qualifiers, Japan, making its debut in the tournament at BKSP 2.
Salma Khatun’s side proved to be the stronger of the two, with Ema Kuribayashi’s team bowled out for a meagre 38 runs in 28.3 overs.
Katun and Suktana Rahaman proved the pick of the bowlers with the duo taking five wickets each, Khatun’s five wickets for just five runs earned the 21-year-old her first Player of the Match award.
It took Bangladesh just 4.4 overs to beat the Japanese side, with Ayesha Akhter and Suktara combining to reach the target with ease for the hosts.
It was a disappointing day for Ireland once again in its ODI against Pakistan, despite an improved batting performance from Isobel Joyce’s side at Khanshaheb Osman Ali Stadium.
The side managed to make 140 with Jill Whelan proving to be the pick of the Ireland batters, managing to contribute 35 runs to the total, while her team-mates didn’t prove to be quite as successful. Sadia Yousuf was the pick of the Pakistani bowlers, with the 22-year-old claiming 4-19.
In reply, Pakistan lost just two wickets, openers Qanita Jalil and Sana Mir with the captain departing off the bowling of 13-year-old Elena Tice. Tice tempted the Pakistani captain to edge the ball through to Whelan behind the stumps and she walked on 34 runs. Javeria Wadood and the hero of yesterday’s batting, Bismah Maroof, guided the side to victory.