The team, which just became the T-20 Asia Cup champions, lost their last group match to South Africa for 30 runs. South Africa set Bangladesh a manageable total of 109 runs at Saint Lucia on Monday, but the batting failed spectacularly, only scoring 79 after playing the full 20 overs and losing just 5 wickets.
Unfortunately, the total was the highest Bangladesh managed in its four matches in the tournament. They scored 46 against Pakistan, 76 against England and 72 against Sri Lanka in their previous World Cup encounters.
South Africa started well after the lost the toss and being sent in to bat. Lizelle Lee opened the match with 21 runs in 13 balls. Marizanne Kapp at no. 3, scored 25 in 19 balls. After the 10th over, South Africa were 64/3.
But the Bangladesh bowlers tore into the latter part of the innings to ground South Africa to 108.
Salma Khatun bagged 3 wickets in the match and reached 50 wickets in T-20s. Rumana Ahmed reached 52 wickets after bagging one.
Despite changing the batting order, Bangladesh failed to pick up any momentum in the innings. Sharmin Akter, in her tournament debut, scored only 8 off 22 balls. Her opening partner Ayesha Rahman scored 3 runs off 9.
The team scored only 13 runs during the six power play overs. Those who followed the openers failed to play good shots or even take singles. Farzana Haque needed 36 balls to score 19.
Only Rumana had some success with the bat, scoring 34 off 40 balls while at the crease. Unfortunately, she received no support for the opposite end.
“Had it been men’s cricket, they would have been vilified if they were 30 runs away from the target after playing the entire innings and losing only 5 wickets; women should be treated the same way,” Naser Hussain in the commentary box said, not without justification.
Scorecard:
South Africa 109/ 9 in 20 overs
Bangladesh 79/5 in 20 overs
South Africa won by 30 runs
Player of the match: Marizanne Kapp
