Published - | Updated - February 20, 2023 08:51 am
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The last group game will decide who advances to the Women’s T20 World Cup semi-finals after New Zealand maintained their hopes with a 102-run thrashing of Sri Lanka at Boland Park in Paarl on Sunday. Even if it’s only a tiny, tiny opportunity, we’ve given ourselves a chance, said Sophie Devine, the captain of New Zealand. Australia is guaranteed to win Group One, but the other group qualifiers won’t be confirmed until Tuesday, when South Africa plays Bangladesh at Newlands in Cape Town.
If South Africa defeats Bangladesh, New Zealand will overtake it from second place.
As New Zealand suffered lopsided losses to Australia and South Africa, it appeared improbable that they would still be considered.
But, the White Ferns quickly bounced back with an 81-run victory over Bangladesh before turning up the heat on Sunday with a score of 162 for three before dismissing Sri Lanka for 60.
Despite the harder wicket than Newlands (in Cape Town), Devine says, “we spoke about scoring 160.”
When Bernadine Bezuidenhout set the tone with an aggressive 32 off 20 balls, Suzie Bates (56) and Amelia Kerr (66) each scored half-centuries to help reach that.
We always thought 160 would be a tough match, and the bowlers were outstanding,” added Devine.
“Hard day”
Chamari Athapaththu, the captain of Sri Lanka, remarked, “That was a rough day.”
There aren’t many seasoned players on my team. Today taught us a lot of new stuff.
The West Indies’ skipper Hayley Matthews expressed optimism for the future of women’s cricket in the Caribbean after her team’s successful campaign.
With two victories out of four in their final group games, the West Indies defeated Pakistan by three runs.
They defeated Ireland in their previous encounter to snap a 15-match T20 losing drought, and they displayed grit in defeating Pakistan by holding them to a total of 116 for 6, which Matthews thought was “20 runs short.”
We have many young players on our team, and as they mature, we are headed in the correct direction, according to Matthews.
Nida Dar, a seasoned player for Pakistan, had a bitter-sweet day when she equaled Anisa Mohammed, a former player for the West Indies, who had a record of 125 wickets in women’s T20 internationals, by taking two for 13 in four precise overs of off-spin.
Dar contributed 27 runs to Pakistan’s reply, but her team was unable to win.
The final will be held on Sunday after the semi-finals on Thursday and Friday. At Newlands, there will be only knockout games.