Tigresses fail crucial tests

The Bangladesh women's cricket team bowed out of the ICC World Cup Qualifier 2017 yesterday as the fifth-best team following their 42-run defeat via the Duckworth-Lewis method at the hands of Sri Lanka in Colombo.

That means that they failed to qualify for the eight-team World Cup with the top four finishers of this tournament set to join the four other teams -- Australia, New Zealand, West Indies and England -- who have already qualified.

The crucial matches for the Tigresses were the group games against Pakistan and South Africa. They had beaten Papua New Guinea, Scotland and had managed to reach the Super Sixes. However, they were one win short. It was always going to be difficult for them to beat India. Sri Lanka would have been a difficult opponent on their home turf as well.

However, Bangaldesh could have performed better in the group stages against their crucial opponents. They have beaten Pakistan and South Africa twice in the past, although those wins came at home. Against Pakistan they were bundled out for 160 while chasing 227 and against South Africa they only managed to score 100 runs.

In both these games, it was their batting that let them down. Batting has been a problem for quite some time for the women's team. While their new coach is trying hard to make the changes, they just could not manage to make enough improvements within the right time.

While Bangladesh did manage to eke out three wins in this tournament, there is no doubt that the team management will be a bit disappointed having not been able to compete in the crucial games.