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 games against Australia and South Africa, but recovered to all-but knock Bangladesh out.

After electing to bat at the toss, New Zealand 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 peg back the Kiwis.

And when captain Sophie Devine was bowled next ball by Fahima, it looked like New Zealand were in trouble but Madeline Green (44 off 20) shared an 82-run partnership 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 overs.

But Hannah Rowe (2-15) took two wickets in the powerplay, including Sultana and Sobhana Mostary, while Kerr (1-24) bowled captain 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 of their games and play hosts South Africa in Cape Town on February 21.

New Zealand still have a chance of qualifying for the semi-finals and play Sri Lanka in their final match on February 19.

‘Some individual performances stood out’

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

“Some individual performances stood out, especially the U19 players.

“I think it’s great to have them In the team. They are very energetic and talented. A lot of changes have been made. We didn’t play too much international cricket and we have improved a lot. It is something we need to carry forward.

‘We have a big game to go’

Sophie Devine said: “It hasn’t been the greatest starts from us. That’s how we want to be playing consistently. We have a big game to go. Today, we spoke about following the processes and not getting too ahead of ourselves.

“We’ve got the skills and talent, it’s just putting it out on the park. Hopefully this has given us a lot of confidence to take into the next game.

“We’ve probably been building it over the last 6-8 months is the spin bowling group and seamers as well. There’s some really promising signs for this group. There’s certainly a lot of positives to take out of it.

“We can only control what we can control. There are another couple of important matches before we play.”

What’s next?

England face India in Gqeberha on Saturday, knowing a win would put them in control of Group 2 and Australia face South Africa after England’s match, having already won the first three games.