Capricorn Eagles suffer heavy defeat 

Namibia’s chances of qualifying for the ICC T20 Women’s World Cup took a further knock when they suffered a heavy 80-run defeat to Bangladesh yesterday.

It was their second successive loss at the tournament after going down by four wickets to the United States (US) on Tuesday, which put them at the bottom of Group A, just below Papua New Guinea on goal difference.

Although their chances of qualifying are not over yet, they will have to win their final two matches against Papua New Guinea and Ireland, and hope other results go their way to have any chance of making it to the Super Six stage of the competition.

Yesterday, Namibia’s bowlers and fielders did quite well to restrict Bangladesh to 144/7, but their batting fell apart against the accurate spin bowling of Bangladesh as they were all out for a meagre 64 runs.

Namibia got off to a bright start when Saima Tuhadeleni dismissed Juairiya Ferdous for a duck, but Bangladesh’s top order batters soon got into their stride.

Namibia, however, kept up the pressure with regular wickets backed up by some excellent fielding as none of Bangladesh’s batters could build up big totals.

Opener Dilara Akter was dismissed by Sylvia Shihepo for 25 after a great catch by Naomi Benjamin; Nigar Sultana was dismissed for 21 by Arrasta Diergaardt after a diving catch by Sune Wittmann; Sobhana Mostary was caught by Diergaardt off Tuhadeleni’s bowling; and Shorna Akter was dismissed by the Mwatile sisters for 23, caught by Meke off Wilka’s bowling.

For Namibia, Tuhadeleni took 2/34 and Sylvia Shihepo 2/21.

Namibia got off to a quick start as Wittmann and Yasmeen Khan put on 20 runs off three overs before Khan was bowled by Rabeya Khatun for five.

Khatun also dismissed Kayleen Green cheaply for three, but Wittmann and Merczerly Gorases kept Namibia’s hopes alive with attacking knocks.

Wittmann, however, fell to Fahima Khatun for 19, and when Gorases was dismissed by Sanjida Meghla for 12, Namibia’s brief resistance came to an end.

With Meghla cutting through their lower order, they lost their last five wickets for only 13 runs to be all out for 64.

Meghla was Bangladesh’s top bowler, taking 4/14 off four overs, while Rabeya Khatun had amazing figures of 3/5 off four overs, and Fahima Khatun 3/12 off 3.5 overs.

Namibia captain Wittmann said there were some positives to take out of the defeat.

“I think we restricted them to a very good total if you look at the conditions because it is a batting pitch, and I think the ladies put up their hands in the bowling and the fielding departments today, but we didn’t come to the party with the bat,” she said.

“But well done to Bangladesh, I think their spin bowlers bowled exceptionally well and they put our batters under a lot of pressure, but I think there’s a lot of positives that we can take out of this match.

“If we dont have some of our top order batters batting deep and making sure they are still there at the end then its difficult for the lower order batters to get to the target so we must just make sure we bat better and approach our run chase better.

“Partnerships are crucial – we’ve been talking about that for quite a while now, having someone who can bat deep, and get you to the end,” she added.

That was Bangladesh’s third successive victory in the tournament which put them atop Group A, while Ireland went second after beating the US by 16 runs yesterday.

Ireland scored 154/7 with Leah Paul scoring 67 and Gaby Lewis 42, while Tara Norris took 3/10 for the US.

In reply the US posted 138/8 with Ritu Singh scoring 41, while Arlene Kelly took 4/20.

Bangladesh lead the log on six points, followed by Ireland on four, the US on two, and Papua New Guinea and Namibia on zero points each.

The top three teams will progress to the Super Six stage.

The Netherlands, meanwhile, went atop Group B after beating Nepal by two runs in a thriller yesterday.

The Netherlands posted 140/5 with Babette de Leede scoring 49 and Sterre Kalis 30, while Nepal replied with 138/7, with Rubina Chhetry scoring 37 not out.

The Netherands now lead Group B on six points, followed by Thailand on four, and Scotland on two, while Nepal and Zimbabwe must still open their accounts.

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