West Indies and South Africa maintained its unbeaten runs in the ICC Women’s World Cup Qualifier 2011 (WWCQ) in Dhaka as the sides won both of its final rounds of group matches at the tournament.
Captain Dilani Fernando and Doris Francis spinning the toss. Photo: ICC
By virtue of topping its groups the two sides have now qualified for the ICC Women’s World Cup 2013 and have also retained its ODI statuses.
There are still two more places to be filled for the ICC Women’s World Cup 2013 and the next round of fixtures will finalise those positions.
West Indies maintained its unbeaten run in the ICC WWCQ 2011 after the side defeated hosts Bangladesh by 80 runs in front of over 5000 Bangladeshi fans that filled the stands at Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium (SBNCS) in Mirpur.
West Indies now finishes the group stages on top and will next play on Thursday when it will face either Sri Lanka or Bangladesh dependent on the outcome of the Asia sides’ cross-over game on Tuesday.
Nida Dar’s century helped Pakistan to defeat Japan today to finish Group B in second position while Sri Lanka’s Shashikala Siriwardene claimed three wickets to help dismiss the USA and thereby helped her side register another win and ensured Dilani Manodara’s team concluded Group A in second place.
Sunette Loubser proved the bowler of the day at Khanshaheb Osman Ali Stadium (KSOAS) when South Africa defeated Zimbabwe by 10 wickets and continued its undefeated run in Group A. The side now tops the group and will next play on Thursday when it faces the victor of the cross-over game between Netherlands and Pakistan.
Sri Lanka completed a resounding win over USA as it dismissed the side for 53 runs and in reply chased down the target with ease. Extremely tight Sri Lankan bowling hampered any real chance of the Americans making runs with Shashikala Siriwardene spinning her way through the American batting line-up and once again highlighting the importance spin has taken in this event.
In response, Sri Lanka’s top order once again struggled to bed in, losing two of its batters to Triholder Marshall, before closing the deal against the USA side with eight wickets to spare.
Sandamali Dolawatte and Prabhodani Weerakkody sealed the deal for Sri Lanka with the duo making 39 in the third wicket partnership and keeping alive the side’s hopes for qualification for the ICC Women’s World Cup 2013.
At Mirpur, West Indies took on the hosts Bangladesh in what was the table-toppers’ final group game, Merissa Aguilleira’s side knew that victory would score them a berth at the ICC Women’s World Cup 2013 and set out to complete the task at hand.
Despite losing Juliana Nero early in the innings, Stafanie Taylor and Shanel Daley put on a 84-run partnership for the second wicket which helped the West Indies on its way to making a hefty target of 218 for Bangladesh to chase down.
Rumana Ahmed proved the pick of the Bangladesh bowling attack which challenged the West Indies at times, but at other times did little to trouble the strong batting line-up from the Caribbean. Some poor bowling saw Stacy-Ann King and Daley both hitting sixes off the Bangladeshi attack to highlight their substantial shot range.
In front of a large and vocal home crowd, the Bangladesh side valiantly chased down the target, but ultimately fell short with the West Indies showing once again how strong a side it is in the field. Aguilleira’s team allowed no ball to go un-chased and restricted the young Bangladesh batters who struggled against the athletic fielding and superior West Indies bowling.
Bangladesh coach Mamatha Maben said: “West Indies were a superior side to us and this was a good game for us to learn from and to see how we can improve.
“They play a good standard of cricket and where other teams would have left a ball to go through to the ‘keeper or let it go to the boundary rather than chasing it down, they went after every ball, they chased everything and showed they are a superior side.
“Personally I think we could have taken more chances and yet at the same time we should be proud of the performance we put in against a tough opposition.
“I have always said as a side we’re a good bowling and fielding team who is learning, but we are lacking in the batting department. That lacking was seen today against West Indies who proved to be a tough opposition and showed our batters what they need to be doing.
“The next game against Sri Lanka is a do or die fixture for us in regards to qualifying for the ICC Women’s World Cup. We’ve not performed to our full potential in previous times against Sri Lanka but we are getting closer each time we play them and hopefully Tuesday’s game will be the game we finally beat them.”
Aguilleira admitted that Bangladesh had the toughest bowling attack the West Indies had faced so far in the event.
“Bangladesh’s bowling line-up was definitely the toughest we’ve faced so far in this event, especially the likes of Rumana Ahmed. They performed well out there, their batting needs to improve but bowling-wise I definitely rate them.
“We performed well as a team today, we stuck to the basics and I’m happy with the direction this side is moving in. We came to this event to play six matches, to qualify for the ICC Women’s World Cup and to play in six matches to make it to the final. We’ve accomplished the qualification part of our target, which feels fantastic and now it’s about the next two games and winning the event.”
Aguilleira added praise for Daley’s performance with both bat and ball: “Shanel showed her consistency today, she went out to bat and knew she had to stay there and steady the innings and she did just that and then took two wickets in the Bangladesh innings, so she had a great game for us.”
At Khanshaheb Osman Ali Stadium, the day began with South Africa’s Akhona Nyiki receiving her first international cap from captain Mignon du Preez, the 19-year-old went on to make a dream start by also claiming her first wicket for South Africa in the game against Zimbabwe.
However, the day belonged to Sunette Loubser, the 29-year-old off-spinner claiming six wickets for just nine runs as she helped the side to restrict Zimbabwe for 103-8 in its 50 overs.
Loubser combined with wicketkeeper Tricia Chetty to ensure two of Zimbabwe’s side were stumped, while the high school teacher showed her athleticism by dismissing Zimbabwe captain Sharne Mayers, caught and bowled.
Nyiki’s first international wicket saw the young player remove Christabel Chatonzwa caught and bowled, Shabnim Ismail and Dinesha Devnarain clean bowled Nonhlanha Nyathi and Precious Marange respectively.
In response, Zimbabwe’s bowlers didn’t have a chance against South Africa’s opening batting combination of Shandre Fritz and Tricia Chetty.
Fritz performed a batting master class for the Zimbabweans to witness; hitting 15 boundaries on her way to a 45-ball 69 not out while her counterpart Chetty added 25 runs and the duo had the win and ICC Women’s World Cup 2013 qualification in the bag for South Africa in just 12 overs.
Pakistan’s Nida Dar proved the pick of her side’s batting line-up as the 24-year-old scored a century against Japan in a match that saw some swift fielding by the Japanese in what some spectators may say was the East-Asia Pacific side’s best performance in the field to date in the ICC WWCQ.
Ema Kuribayashi claimed three wickets during Pakistan’s innings, while poor communication between Pakistan’s batters meant Kuribayashi’s side displayed its agility in the field and some impressive throwing to claim five run-outs, including that of Marina Iqbal, captain Sana Mir, Bismah Maroof and ultimately the centurion Nida as well.
Japan’s bowlers proved far tighter in the field today, but despite great effort, the side could not stop the run-maker Nida, who finished the 50-over game on 124 after she was run-out by Miho Kanno.
Having been set a target of 273 by Pakistan, it was always going to be a difficult task for Japan’s batters who have struggled against spin in Dhaka, Sadia Yousef being the nemesis of the Japanese batters today. The 22-year-old left-arm orthodox spinner ran through the Japan line-up claiming six wickets for just two runs, while Nida claimed two wickets and the entire Japan side collapsed for just 26 runs.
Japan will now play Zimbabwe on Tuesday in the ninth/10th play-off for the ICC WWCQ at BKSP 2.
