Dubai: South African captain Laura Wolvaardt suffered a rare failure with the bat in the Women’s T20 World Cup. That was soon forgotten as fellow opener Tazmin Brits struck at 41-ball 42 to set them on course to a seven-wicket win over Bangladesh at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium.
With Saturday’s win, South Africa soared to the top of the Group B points table. Their six points from four matches don’t guarantee a semifinal spot since England and the West Indies could catch up. But South Africa have a good net run rate of 1.382.
Bangladesh’s 106/3 was never enough to challenge South Africa. Even Wolvaardt’s early departure couldn’t stifle South Africa as Brits and Anneke Bosch (25 off 25) strung together a run-a-ball stand of 53, which put the result beyond doubt. Marizanne Kapp (13) and Chloe Tryon (14) struck the remaining 26 runs without alarms, while leggie Fahima Khatun (2-19) was the best bowler for Bangladesh.
Player of the Match Brits said it was a difficult pitch to bat. “To force a few runs with no speed on the ball, I had to invent a few shots,” she told the host broadcaster.
Skipper Wolvaardt was happy with the South African bowling but wanted a quicker chase. [I] would have loved to chase it down faster, and that was the message that went out, but we didn’t get there,” she said, adding that Kapp always makes a big impact with the bat or ball. Kapp returned figures of 1-10 from her four overs.
After opting to bat, Bangladesh lost Dilara Akter to the second ball of the match. They shrugged off the shock as Sobhana Mostary (38 off 43) patched together a 36-run run stand with Shathi Rani (19) and added another 45 with captain Niger Sultana (32 not out off 38). But Bangladesh were bogged down in the middle overs, and although Sultana raised scoring in the slog overs with a brisk 25-run partnership with Shorna Akter, the big hits and flurry of boundaries never came.
That was perplexing since Bangladesh had wickets in hand and could have attacked the South African bowlers a bit early. As a result, they had an undercooked score.
Sultana lamented the lack of runs in the powerplay. “I was struggling as well. On this surface, it was difficult [to score], and we played too many dot balls. I’m really happy for Mostary because she’s been consistent. Fahima has also been a brilliant bowler,” she added.
