England are through to the semis and it's the end of the road for Bangladesh at their first-ever 50-over World Cup. Join us for the semifinals as well as the grand finale as we bring you ball-by-ball updates from the same. For now, it's me, Ajay, along with my fellow commentator Akshay and scorer Ashok, signing off. Goodbye!
Heather Knight | Winning Skipper:"Really pleased. The job was to come here and get two points to reach the semifinals. Dunkley has been a really good find for us over the last couple of years. We have had time in the middle and, hopefully, we've enough match-time on us for the semi-final. We had one eye on the points and the other on the NRR. We'll happily play whomever we get to in the semi-final. We didn't have a great start but we turned it around to reach the semis."
Nigar Sultana | Losing Skipper: "We lacked
partnerships. We lost too many wickets in the middle and fell well short of the
target. It was a decent total and the wicket was very good. If the top order
played well and if we had taken it deep, we would have chased it down. Happy
with the individual performances. Salma Khatun and Ritu Moni were brilliant. We
have to play more matches so that we will get to learn from it. We played our
first 50-over World Cup and overall a great experience for us. Definitely, the women’s
cricket in Bangladesh is heading in the right direction. A lot of girls are playing
cricket back home and it’s good to see."
Sophia Dunkley | Player of the Match: "It definitely
wasn’t easy to start. Their bowlers were bowling well. I decided to take it
deep. Very happy to get some runs under the belt. It was a slow wicket and I was
trying to sweep hard and play square of the wicket. Brunt came out with a lot of energy and it was good to run twos with her. It is a dream come true for me to play in
the World Cup. We gave our best today and we will see who we face in the
semi-finals. But happy with the result."
Sophia Dunkley is the Player of the Match.
None of the Bangladesh batters showed any intent in the middle to get to the target. Having a look at the scorecard, number 11 batter Jahanara Alam had the highest strike rate (75) for Bangladesh. However, this was Bangladesh's first 50-over World Cup and their first-ever ODI against England, and they will only learn and get better if they keep playing at this level. Sophie Ecclestone and Charlotte Dean were super economical for England, picking up three wickets apiece. Freya Davies was quite impressive as well as she returned figures of 36/2 from her ten overs.
The one-sided affair comes to an end, finally, as England down Bangladesh by 100 runs and go through to the semifinals. Chasing a target of 235, Bangladesh never looked like they would cross the line. Their batters blocked too many balls, and it seemed they just wanted to bat in the middle for long, be it by just blocking deliveries after deliveries. Not only do England get to an important two points from this fixture but also a boost to their NRR as the margin of win is pretty big.
W In the air and taken safely by Cross. Davies bowls it fuller outside off, Moni looks to hit it straight back over the bowler's head but ends up getting a top edge and Cross at mid off settles under it and pouches it safely. With this, England beat Bangladesh by 100 runs and qualify for the semi-finals.
47.5 F Davies to R Moni
0 Shorter in length outside off, Moni goes for the cut but misses.
47.4 F Davies to R Moni
0 Fuller delivery again from Davies, Moni mistimes the drive towards mid off.
47.3 F Davies to R Moni
4 FOUR!!! Davies overpitches this one outside off, Moni leans forward and drives it nicely past covers for a boundary.
47.2 F Davies to R Moni
0 On a length around off, Moni defends it to covers.
47.1 F Davies to J Alam
1 Good length delivery on the stumps, Alam clips it behind square in the leg side for a run.
OVER 47
Bangladesh Women
129/9
Ritu Moni
7(26)
Jahanara Alam
2(3)
Charlie Dean
3-31(9.0)
46.6 C Dean to R Moni
0 On a length on the stumps, Moni blocks it straight.
46.5 C Dean to R Moni
0 Fuller delivery on the stumps, Moni takes it on full and pushes it straight back to Dean.
46.4 C Dean to R Moni
0 Turning in on the pads, Moni nudges it to square leg.
46.3 C Dean to R Moni
0 Tossed up outside off, Moni defends it in the off side.