Rumana Spins Bangladesh Women To Eight-Wicket Win
Ireland Women falter with the bat, putting up only 74/9, before going down by eight wickets
Rumana Ahmed ran circles around Ireland Women with her leg-spin, grabbing 4 for 12, as Bangladesh Women completed a clinical eight-wicket win with 7.3 overs to spare in the ICC Women’s World Twenty20 2016 warm-up match in Bangalore on Saturday (March 12).
After opting to bat at M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Ireland could only manage 74 for 9. It was a total that was below par and, unsurprisingly, Bangladesh barely broke sweat in the chase.
Ayasha Rahman and Sharmin Akhter began brightly with a 27-run stand in four overs, before Rahman fell to Lucy O’Reilly for 11. Ciara Metcalfe then bowled out Sanjida Islam, but Akhter got some welcome time in the middle, hitting five fours in her 37-ball 36.
She helped take Bangladesh across the line in the 13th over, with Jahanara Alam (16 not out in nine balls) finishing it off with a six.
Winning the toss was one of the things that went right for Ireland, but Alam, the Bangladesh captain, dismissed Clare Shillington in the opening over, and Salma Khatun removed Cecelia Joyce in the next.
Gaby Lewis and Shauna Kavanagh hung around for a bit, but both fell tamely as Ireland sunk to 13 for 4. The only semblance of a fight came from Isobel Joyce and Kim Garth, who put on a 25-run stand for the fifth wicket.
But Rumana, Bangladesh’s star leg-spinner, was handed the ball in the 11th over and it wasn’t long before Ireland’s innings began to unspool. Garth (11) offered Rumana a simple catch off her own bowling, while Isobel came down the track only to watch in dismay as she was stumped for 16.
A four from Laura Delany, who top-scored with 17, and another from O’Reilly were the only boundaries in Ireland’s batting effort.
Brief scores: Ireland Women 74/9 in 20 overs (Laura Delany 17; Rumana Ahmed 4-12) lost to Bangladesh Women 79/2 in12.3 overs (Sharmin Akhter 36 n.o.) by 8 wickets.
