Australia humble Tigresses
Bangladesh suffered their largest T20I defeat, an 86-run thumping, at the hands of defending champions Australia during their ICC Women's T20 World Cup encounter at the Manuka Oval in Canberra yesterday.
There were records galore during the game, but none that showed the Tigresses in a favourable light. Alyssa Healy and Beth Mooney gave Australia a blazing start, stringing together Australia's highest partnership for any wicket with 151 for the opening stand.
Healy's return to form saw her make a carefree 83 to become the tournament's top run-getter, ably supported by Mooney who ended unbeaten on 81.
Courtesy of the blistering start, Australia took a step closer to ensuring back-to-back victories, ending with a mammoth 189 for one -- the highest total of the tournament so far and the third-highest in the tournament's history.
Australia did provide some chances, but the Tigresses were too clumsy in the field to oblige. The Salma Khatun-led side dropped as many as four chances.
Even Salma acknowledged that the target was too big for her side.
"Australia are a very good team. 190 was a very big total. Their bowlers had good length and line and my batters are not used to short balls," Salma said after the match.
However, Bangladesh, who were struggling to cope with Australia's pace attack, could have been restricted to much less than 103 for nine.
A flurry of wickets early on saw the Tigresses reduced to three for 26 in 5.4 overs before a fifty-run partnership between Nigar Sulatana and Fargana Haque helped them avert utter humiliation.
Fargana hoped that the team could learn from such teams and said they would improve if they played matches against teams like Australia.
"It would be really helpful for us to learn and grow from within if we get the chance to play a few series with top teams like Australia," Fargana said.
Scores in brief
Australia: 189 for 1 in 20 overs (Healy 83, Mooney 81 not out, Gardner 22 not out; Salma 1-39)
Bangladesh: 103 for 9 in 20 overs (Shamima 13, Nigar 19, Fargana 36, Rumana 13; Schutt 3-21, Jonassen 2-17)
Result: Australia women won by 86 runs.
Player-of-the-match: Alyssa Healy.
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