England beat Bangladesh in rain-marred encounter

England, having been left frustrated by a wash out in their opening game, overcame a similar threat to thrash Bangladesh by seven wickets (DLS method) in St Lucia. The win meant England opened up a one point lead over hosts Windies, but have played one extra game. Bangladesh, meanwhile, find themselves at the bottom of Group A with two successive defeats.

Batting first, Bangladesh found themselves tumbling rapidly at the Daren Sammy Stadium. There were as many as four ducks in the first six as the Asian Champions found themselves reeling at 53/6. It was a debut to remember for Kirstie Gordon, who was the bolwing star for England, taking three wickets for just 16 runs in her four overs. Every other bowler, barring Heather Knight also picked up a wicket each as Bangladesh were restricted to a paltry 76/9.

Opener Ayasha Rahman was the only batter to show any kind of defiance with a patient 39, while only two others managed to get into double digits.

Only rain was going to stop England from taking all points again. They did suffer early setbacks when Danielle Wyatt was out LBW off the first ball off the innings and opening partner Tammy Beaumont followed soon after. But England just needed one decent partnership to soothe the nerves.

Rain arrived after England had gotten to 55/3 after nine overs, which meant at the very least a result was possible.

After a brief spell of rain, England’s revised target of 64 in 16 overs meant they needed to score at just over a run an over to complete formalities. As it turned out, captain Knight needed just three deliveries to wrap up the chase and give her side a deserving three points.

England, with three points in two games, will now play South Africa in their next game and will soon follow that up with a match against the hosts, Windies. They will know that they will need a good result against atleast one of the two teams to keep themselves in the reckoning for a semi-final spot.

Bangladesh, on the other hand, face Sri Lanka on the 14th hoping that they can put to an end their two-game losing streak in this WWT20.

Brief Scores: Bangladesh 76/9 (Ayasha Rahman 39, Kirstie Gordon 3-16, Natialie Sciver 1-7) lost to England 64/3 in 9.3 overs (Amy Jones 28*, Natalie Sciver 23) by 7 wickets (DLS Method)