Who would’ve thought this game would go this deep after England’s demolition of South Africa? Credit to Bangladesh for their resilience and fight. They’re clearly not here to just make up the numbers; after beating Pakistan, they came ever so close to backing it up with another famous win. England, meanwhile, got the test they needed after that one-sided outing and this contest will serve them well going forward. Time to bring the curtains down. Until next time, take care and stay safe..
Nat Sciver-Brunt | England captain: We did what we had to do to get over the line. It could have looked a bit better, but we’re really happy to be on the winning side. Those four spinners bowled really well. Yeah, definitely (happy bowling them out for 178). Pretty early on I felt that seam was a little bit easier to hit, the overs from Capsey were important, we’ve got three frontline spinners, but Capsey to come and bowl some important overs was needed. I thought it was really valuable, we were really happy to keep them to that score. We are pretty lucky that we’ve got Lindsey Smith who could definitely bowl at the death. Yeah, maybe something for me to think about, we’ll see if with the lights coming on towards the end of the inning probably makes that wicket a little bit more zippy, so maybe bring Lauren Bell back next time. Yeah, in hindsight we could do that, do something certainly different. (Referring to playing so many all-rounders) Talking about the balance of the side, that’s the great thing that we have, Charlie coming in at that number 8, obviously the last wicket partnership was very crucial for us, and I think that the calmness that they showed in obviously quite a high pressure situation was brilliant, we would have liked to have done it a few less wickets down, but I suppose that’s the way it went in the end. (Speaking about Knight) Almost walked off a couple of times, so for her to be able to switch on and read the game really well and know what she needed to do for the team, just brilliant to have her back.
Nigar Sultana | Bangladesh captain: It was an incredible game. How we fought till the last ball was incredible. We lost a couple of wickets and there was a partnership, but we needed one of the set batters to bat till the end. We were short by 20-30 runs. We will think about it (sending Rabeya up the order) later, but the way she played today was very inspiring. I wanted them to play till the last ball, if they batted through we could have got 10-20 runs (referring to her messages to her batters). They are very young and we wanted to give them some knowledge to help them in the middle. She (Marufa) needs a bit of time to recover but she will be fine for the next game. We made so many mistakes after picking six wickets, there were too many loose deliveries. Fahima bowled really well, but we needed others to support her.
The 79-run partnership between Heather Knight and Charlotte Dean is the first 50-plus stand for the seventh wicket or lower in a successful Women’s World Cup chase, surpassing 41* between Jhulan Goswami and Rumeli Dhar vs AUS-W in the 3rd Place Playoff in Sydney in 2009.
Dean was also involved in the highest ever partnership for seventh wicket or below in Women’s ODI history – 130* with Amy Jones vs NZ-W in Wellington last year. That too, had come in a successful run-chase, the pair seeing England through in a 208-run chase from 79/6.
Most ODI runs for ENG-W
5992 – Charlotte Edwards
4562 – Tammy Beaumont
4124 – Nat Sciver-Brunt
4116 – Heather Knight
4101 – Claire Taylor
Knight played six sweeps vs spin today (conventional or reverse) and got 18 off those – four fours and two singles.
Batting vs spin today (by footwork)
Front-foot: 113(251), 8 dismissals, SR: 45.01
Back-foot: 97(175), 2 dismissals, SR: 55.42
Down the track: 41(28), 2 dismissals, SR: 146.42
Other: 3(7), 1 dismissal, SR: 42.85
Spin bowling stats at the three venues so far
Guwahati: 33 wickets at 19.03, SR: 28.2, ER: 4.04
Colombo RPS: 18 wickets at 23.66, SR: 33.2, ER: 4.27
Indore: 14 wickets at 28.57, SR: 30.5, ER: 5.62
The average turn on offer today for spinners was the highest in the seven games in the tournament so far. No spinner has got more turn in an innings than Sophie Ecclestone did earlier today, followed by Charlotte Dean.
Heather Knight | Player of the Match: Wasn’t easiest of conditions. Good bowling attack. Quite skillful. We made it a little bit for ourselves. Got a partnership at the end. Wasn’t easy to start. Proper game in the middle since Mid March. Tried to get through the phase at the start. Was a little tricky. Akhtar is a very good bowler. Gets that late swing. Threatens the front pad. Luckily got some reprieves. I thought it carried. The TV umpire decided. Charlie played well. Got that little partnership. We knew one partnership just was needed to get the bulk of the runs. She works very hard on her batting. Lost a few kgs. Batted so much after a while. Happy to do so.
Bangladesh though can be immensely proud of their effort. Their energy in the field was infectious; dancing after wickets, throwing themselves around, and backing up their spinners brilliantly. Fahima Khatun was the pick of the lot, her leg-breaks tying England in knots as she finished with impressive figures of 3 for 16 in 10 overs. Had they managed to push their total closer to 200, this could have been an even tighter finish. A spirited display nonetheless from Nigar Sultana’s side. Hang around for the presentations..
21:45 Local Time, 16:15 GMT: What a game! England will breathe a sigh of relief after being made to work hard for this win. Heather Knight’s composure proved decisive, guiding her side home in a tricky chase. Charlie Dean had mentioned at the break that they’d need to dig deep, and that’s exactly what her former skipper did. Marufa Akter once again struck early for Bangladesh, removing both openers, before Sciver-Brunt’s counterattack ended tamely with a full toss to midwicket. A mini collapse followed – 4 wickets for 34 runs – but Knight held firm and, along with Dean, stitched a crucial 79-run stand for the seventh wicket to take England over the line.
Sobhana Mostary to Charlie Dean, FOUR, England win by 4 wickets. They were given a real scare, but experience in the form of Heather Knight has seen them home. Spare a thought for Bangladesh, who fought tooth and nail and came agonisingly close to pulling off their biggest win. Coming to the ball: It’s a full toss from Mostary and Dean puts it away in front of square to seal the game. Relief for England, heartbreak for Bangladesh!
Sobhana Mostary, right-arm medium, comes into the attack
Shorna Akter to Knight, no run, shuffles across and tries to work it into the leg-side, closes the bat face and the leading edge rolls back to Shorna
Shorna Akter to Charlie Dean, 1 run, short of length on off, Dean goes back and nudges it to mid-wicket
Shorna Akter to Knight, 1 run, flighted delivery on middle, Knight kneels down and sweeps to deep square leg, just a single
Shorna Akter to Knight, 2 runs, in the air and safe. Knight is looking to finish with a big shot. She shimmies down the wicket and does not get to the pitch, but goes through with the loft and miscues it over mid-off, clears the backtracking fielder and picks up a couple
