Favorites for the Women’s World Cup In Wellington’s howling gusts, Australia defeated Bangladesh by five wickets on Friday to keep its spotless record at the Women’s Cricket World Cup.
Favorites A five-wicket victory over Bangladesh in Wellington on Friday kept Australia’s spotless World Cup record intact. Even though Bangladesh’s hopes of a semi-final berth were dim, they made a valiant effort in a rain-shortened match against the six-time champions. A dead rubber match for Australia as they are assured a playoff position after Bangladesh made 135-6 with Lata Mondal top-scoring on 33 in their innings after being put in to bat.
The umpires at Wellington’s Basin Reserve made a rare decision to play on without bails because of the heavy wind.
To keep warm, players from both teams congregated on the sidelines with blankets around them while they awaited their turn to bat.
Meg Lanning, Australia’s captain, described the circumstances as “the worst I’ve ever played in,” according to the AP.
“Finding a means to overcome the frigid weather was all that mattered to me today. Bangladesh put us under a lot of pressure and played exceptionally well.”
A poor start for Bangladeshi hitters in the unplayable circumstances saw them reach 58-2 after 18 overs.
As Australia’s spinners stepped up the pressure, Bangladesh’s batsmen could only manage eight runs in the next eight overs after Sharmin Akhtar’s retirement on 24.
Bangladesh ended the game with a score of 135-6 thanks to some late-inning aggressiveness from Mondal, who was bowled out in the penultimate over.
66 from Beth Mooney and 26 from Annabel Sutherland put Australia in command, while Salma Khatun took 3-23 for Bangladesh.
As of this writing, Australia is the only team in this year’s competition that has yet to lose a game.
Bangladesh’s chances of advancing to the World Cup quarterfinals were always slim, but they can draw confidence from a win over Pakistan and close losses to the West Indies and South Africa.
They still have a chance to upset the defending champions by beating England on Sunday.
