Women’s T20 World Cup: New Zealand keep slim hopes of semi-finals alive after beating Bangladesh by 71 runs | Cricket News

New Zealand kept their hopes of qualifying for the semi-finals of the Women’s T20 World Cup alive after a 71-run victory over Bangladesh.

The White Caps lost their opening matches against Australia and South Africa, but bounced back all-but to beat Bangladesh.

After electing to bat at the toss, New Zealand were posted 189-3, with openers Bernadine Bezuidenhout (44 off 26) and Suzie Bates (81 not out) sharing a 77-run partnership.

Amelia Kerr added 16 runs but when she was caught and bowled by Fahima Khatun (2-36) it looked like Bangladesh would be reeling from the Kiwis.

And when skipper Sophie Devine was bowled next ball by Fahima, it looked like New Zealand were in trouble, but Madeline Green (44 off 20) shared a partnership of 82 to help rebuild the innings.

The score proved too much for Bangladesh, who finished on 118-8.

Openers Shamima Sultana (14 off 11) and Murshida Khatun (30 off 38) got Bangladesh off to a good start with 19 runs from the first two innings.

But Hannah Rowe (2-15) took two wickets in the powerplay, including Sultana and Sobhana Mostary, while Kerr (1-24) bowled skipper Nigar Joty (8 off 14) in the ninth over to leave Bangladesh 54-3.

Khatun shared a 46-run partnership with Shorna Akter (31 off 22), but when the opener was caught by Rowe off the bowling of Eden Carson (3-18), Bangladesh collapsed from 100-4 to 113-8.

The win means Bangladesh have lost all three games and host South Africa in Cape Town on February 21.

New Zealand still have a chance to qualify for the semi-finals and face Sri Lanka in their final match on February 19.

‘Some individual performances stand out’

Bangladesh captain Nigar Joty said: “We are more capable of that, we played against Sri Lanka and good cricket against Australia. We gave a lot of runs with the ball. It is more pressure with the bat.

“Some outstanding individual performances, especially from the U19 players.

“I think it’s good to be in the team. He’s energetic and talented. A lot of changes have been made. We haven’t played international cricket a lot and he’s improved a lot. That’s what we need to do. Move forward.

‘We have a big game to go’

Sophie Devine said: “You have not been the beginning of the best of us. That’s how we want to play continuously. We have a big game to go. Today, we are talking about following the process and not getting too ahead of ourselves.

“We have the skills and the talent, we just put it on the park. Hopefully this will give us a lot of confidence going into the next game.

“We have probably been building it over the last 6-8 months, the bowling group is playing and the seamers are well. There are some really promising signs for this group. There are definitely a lot of positives to take out of it.

“We can only control what we can control. There are some other important matches before we play.”

What’s next?

England face India in Gqeberha on Saturday, knowing a win will take control of Group 2 and Australia face South Africa after the England match, who have won their first three matches.