Tigresses warm up well

The Bangladesh women's cricket team tuned up well in the first official warm-up game against their Irish counterparts ahead of the ICC Women's World Twenty20, which will get underway from November 9 in Guyana. Salma Khatun's side registered a comfortable six-wicket victory over Ireland at the Providence Stadium in Guyana in a day-night match on Sunday.

They will face Pakistan at the same venue on November 6 (Bangladesh time: morning of November 7) in their second and final warm-up match before taking on hosts West Indies on November 9 in one of the opening matches of the 10-team tournament.

Back to the first game, Bangladesh restricted Ireland to 84 for seven and then achieved the target for the loss of four wickets and with 32 balls to spare.

Rumana Ahmed was the top bowler as she claimed three wickets for 10 runs in four overs, while Jahanara Alam took two for 11 from three overs.

Number seven batter Kim Garth scored the team-highest 35 off 38 balls.

In reply, Ayasha Rahman's 26-ball 25 and Fargana Hoque's unbeaten 22-ball 21 helped Bangladesh overtake the total comfortably. Sanjida Islam was the other notable scorer with an unbeaten 20 off 25 balls.

"The players have acclimatised to the conditions well as we came here early and had a seven-day camp in Grenada. It was especially important for the team to adjust with the timing. Everybody is enjoying themselves, although they have not been going out much as they have been sharing their views about how to improve their performance," Nazmul Abedin Fahim, the women's cricket wing development manager, informed The Daily Star over phone.

"There were three practice matches against a local under-17 boys' team during the camp and we won the first game, lost the second one and the third was abandoned due to rain. I think our batting has improved," he added.

Bangladesh have been placed in Group A along with West Indies, England, South Africa and Sri Lanka while Group B comprises Australia, India, New Zealand, Pakistan and Ireland.