9.43 pm Not much drama in that chase. Australia coasted from start to finish never getting above second gear. In two matches between these two sides across the last two T20 World Cups, Bangladesh have taken a total of three wickets. Outside of the contribution made by captain Sultana Joty with the bat, Bangladesh were outclassed and overmatched. Australia move to 2-0 in Group 1 while Bangladesh fall to 0-2.
Player of the Match is Georgia Wareham for her 3 for 20: "It's pretty special any time you get to play for your country so to get to do that in a World Cup and take a few wickets is pretty cool. There was a little bit of spin in it but it was also good to bat on. Hopefully it starts to turn a bit more over the next few games. It's really cool for the selectors to back me in this World Cup coming in not having played heaps of cricket. So it's a really cool experience."
Bangladesh captain Nigar Sultana Joty: "I think we couldn't get many runs in the Powerplay. We wanted at least 40-plus runs. We lost early wickets and I tried to cover up but we couldn't. It was a good wicket. We needed 140-plus runs to defend on this track so we were short by many runs. I just tried to play my natural game. I knew if I could play a long innings that we could get a total on the board, tried to get a boundary every over. [On Marufa] Day by day she is improving. She may be only 18 but she doesn't look like it. She has become so mature and bowled really well. [Coming up in next match vs New Zealand] We just want to play good cricket. The last five overs we didn't score as many boundaries as we want but if we want to play good cricket the next few games then we need to work on that to get runs on the board."
Australia captain Meg Lanning: "I thought we adjusted pretty quickly to the conditions, just targeting the stumps and it's great to see Georgia Wareham back out there today. She's had a long road back from a pretty serious injury. To have her back in the side doing so well was really great to see. She's a game-changer. She's able to impact the game in all three facets and that's pretty handy to have. It's nice to know we're playing in the same conditions in the next couple of games. We learned a little bit about that tonight. It was pretty challenging out there with the bat at times. I thought Bangladesh bowled extremely well and made it pretty difficult for us so it was nice to get the win but I feel like we can keep getting better. [On Marufa] She was very impressive, bowled with good pace and swing and really challenged us. The U19 World Cup was excellent for these young girls to get exposed to some high pressure cricket."
As it stands now, Australia and Sri Lanka are equal on four points with a 2-0 record from two matches. But Australia's net run rate is +2.83 whereas Sri Lanka is at +0.43. South Africa are still in the hunt for a semi-final berth with a net run rate of +1.55 on two points from two matches in third place in Group 1. Bangladesh and New Zealand are tied for last place with zero points from two matches and though they are technically still mathematically alive, it will take a miracle for either to make the semis on the net run rate tiebreaker should either side get to two wins. They face each other in their next match in what is a de facto elimination match.
That's it for tonight's live coverage. Come back tomorrow for more action from the 2023 ICC Women's T20 World Cup as West Indies take on India in the first match of a doubleheader before Pakistan face Ireland in the nightcap from Cape Town. Until then, I'm Peter Della Penna. Take care!
END OF OVER:18 | 7 Runs | AUS-W: 106/2 (2 runs required from 12 balls, RR: 5.88, RRR: 1.00)
- Meg Lanning48 (49b)
- Ashleigh Gardner15 (18b)
- Nahida Akter4-0-32-0
- Marufa Akter4-0-19-1
Lanning still in with a shot of a half-century. She'll be off strike to start the 19th. A single will level the scores to put her on strike but she'll need to hit a boundary with scores level to get to the milestone.
toby briggs: "This has been a very good bowling display by bangladesh Women if only they had added another 20-30 runs! " Well, it's been disciplined but hardly threatening. The game has been stretched out because Australia are playing low risk cricket. But there's been little to no tension regarding Australia actually being in danger of falling short here.
END OF OVER:17 | 7 Runs | AUS-W: 99/2 (9 runs required from 18 balls, RR: 5.82, RRR: 3.00)
- Meg Lanning43 (45b)
- Ashleigh Gardner13 (16b)
- Marufa Akter4-0-19-1
- Nahida Akter3-0-25-0
Lanning looked nailed on for a half-century when Gardner first arrived but the equation of runs to the target and runs left for Lanning to get to 50 is skewing very unfavorably.