Karishma Ramharack‘s four-wicket haul and Hayley Matthews’ quickfire 34 helped West Indies coast to an important eight-wicket victory against Bangladesh, in Sharjah. West Indies Women clinched their second win of the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2024 with a commanding win over Bangladesh. Led by offspinner Karishma Ramharack‘s four-wicket haul, Bangladesh were kept down to 103 before West Indies chased it down with eight wickets to spare.
Karishma Ramharack, a match-winning off-spinning All-rounder of the team, was phenomenal as she picked four wickets which helped the team to limit the score of Bangladesh to just 103 runs and then chased down the target within a matter of comfort. The West Indies won the match by eight wickets and made it their second success of the tournament.
Pitch Report and Toss
Pitch report: 57m and 63m square boundaries. Make up looks similar to the other night. Bit of green grass on it but it will still playing a bit low reckon Alison Mitchell and Katey Martin
West Indies Women skipper Hayley Matthews won the toss and chose to bowl with Mandy Mangru making her debut in the playing XI. Bangladesh Women skipper Nigar Sultana batting first made no changes to the Playing XI .
Karishma Ramharack’s four-wicket haul restricts Bangladesh to 103 for 8
West Indies’ spinners denied Bangladesh a defendable total before they chased down 104 with 7.1 overs to spare for an eight-wicket win at the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2024. Karishma Ramharack restricted Bangladesh each time they looked to kick on, taking four for 17 as they set the Windies 104 to win.
Bangladesh were put into bat and started nervously with Dilara Akter unsettled by two deliveries from Chinelle Henry before crunching her for the first four of the match to show attacking intent. Shathi Rani immediately followed up with a four of her own off the first ball from Hayley Matthews, but the promising partnership ended at just 18 runs after Shathi was stumped by Shemaine Campbelle off the bowling of Karishma Ramharack.
Two overs later, Karishma Ramharack’s return to the attack again brought a wicket as Dilara departed for 19 with Bangladesh ending the powerplay on 33 for two. By the ninth over, Bangladesh were facing the choice between stick or twist and captain Nigar Sultana Joty made the decision up against Afy Fletcher.
Two runs off the first ball was followed by back-to-back fours before Deandra Dottin failed to get her fingers fully under a diving catch with Nigar on 13. The skipper made the Windies pay with a final boundary to take 14 off the over, and at the halfway stage Bangladesh were on target for their highest score at a T20 World Cup at 58 for two.
Campbelle was consistently in the game and almost had a second stumping but her take to dismiss Nigar was judged to have been in front of the stumps. The resulting no ball was smashed for four to add insult to injury before Karishma Ramharack got a third wicket in her third over as Sobhana Mostary was out for 16 having moved to 96 runs for the tournament – the joint third-best at this World Cup.
Bangladesh were rocked as Fletcher took two in two balls to reduce them to 75 for five with the same happening in the final over as Nigar departed for 39 to Karishma Ramharack, as the Tigers reached 103 for eight.
After being put in to bat, Bangladesh were kept relatively quiet inside the PowerPlay. They lost both their openers in the period managing only 33 runs on the slow Sharjah surface. As has been the wont on this ground, West Indies Women attacked predominantly with their spinners and it paid dividends early.
A sharp stumping by Shemaine Campbell earned offie Karishma Ramharack a wicket off her first ball as she got rid of Shathi Rani. A a couple of overs later she was joined by her opening partner Dilara Akter who was bowled by Karishma Ramharack after exposing her legstump.
Skipper Nigar Sultana, along with Shobhana Mostary, arrested the slide with a 40-run stand for the third wicket. The former even reversed some pressure picking three boundaries off Afy Fletcher in an over. She had a reprieve when she was caught short of her ground in a stumping call but ‘keeper Campbelle collecting the ball ahead of the stumps made it a no ball instead.
That, however, did not make a big difference to the eventual outcome. West Indies hit back in the following over with Campbelle completing a clean stumping to dismiss Mostary, giving Karishma Ramharack her third wicket.
Bangladesh were pegged further back with Fletcher picking wickets off successive deliveries to scuttle the middle order. Karishma Ramharack’s fourth strike, getting rid of Ritu Moni caught at deep midwicket, allayed any fears of late surge. Sultana’s 39 had helped them sneak past the 100-run mark before she fell in the final over to Hayley Mathews leaving West Indies with a gettable target.
West Indies used as many as seven bowlers but it was Karishma Ramharack who stood out by taking a wicket each in her four overs across different phases of the game. The offspinner struck with her very first delivery when opener Shathi Rani tried to sweep and missed. Shemaine Campbelle took the bails off in a flash to effect a stumping.
In her second over, the last one in the powerplay, Dilara Akter moved across to sweep but missed, only to expose her middle stump and be bowled. When Karishma Ramharack came out to bowl in the 13th over, she mixed her lines well but kept the ball outside off. She had Sobhana Mostary stumped by making her come down the track to an outside offstump delivery. That ended the 40-run third-wicket stand for Bangladesh.
Just when Nigar Sultana and Ritu Moni were looking to stitch a stand during the death overs, Karishma Ramharack came back and knocked Moni out. Chinelle Henry took an excellent running catch after the batter came down and miscued a lofted shot to deep midwicket. Karishma Ramharack finished with 4 for 17.
Bangladesh showed positive intent with the bat early on, with the openers charging down as early as the second over to go aerial. Nigar started briskly after the openers fell in the powerplay. She particularly took leg spinner Afy Fletcher on and smacked three fours off her second over and moved to 20 off 17 balls.
However, once Mostary fell in the 13th over and Fletcher struck twice in the 15th, Nigar, who was on 27 off 27, slowed down despite West Indies’ sloppy fielding. Her next 17 deliveries fetched just 12 runs and eventually, she fell to Matthews in the final over attempting a big heave towards deep midwicket.
Hayley Matthews star as WI romp to victory in 12.5 overs
Bangladesh would have been buoyed by the complete spin dominance among West Indies’ wicket takers however, taking wickets proved an issue for Bangladesh as Matthews and opening partner Taylor compiled 48 runs for no loss in the powerplay. Taylor was showing clear discomfort having injured herself with some heroic fielding early in Bangladesh’s innings and they were then struck by their own injury worry as Nigar required treatment on her knee before she could continue.
After that stoppage, the breakthrough finally came through Marufa Akter who clean-bowled Matthews for 34 from 22. A second wicket could have come eight balls later, but Sobhana could not hold onto a shot from Taylor who survived on 23. Taylor added four runs to her score before she retired hurt and Dottin came out to bat with Windies needing 31 to win with 60 balls remaining.
Dottin sensed the chance to get the victory wrapped up quickly and took it with two sixes in three balls to set up an exciting clash with England on Tuesday.
The chase was aced by West Indies, who got off to a cracking start thanks to their openers. Matthews led the charge predominantly, toying with the shortish lengths that the Bangladesh spinners ended up dishing out and picking up six boundaries herself inside the PowerPlay. Stefanie Taylor, who was battling a niggle, stayed put at the other end as the duo racked up a 52-run stand before Matthews was bowled by pacer Marufa Akter.
Taylor managed her injury until the halfway mark before she was forced to retire on 27 with West Indies within touching distance of the target. Deandra Dottin sealed the deal with a couple of sixes that gave West Indies a thumping win and a NRR boost that placed them at the top of the table for now in Group B.
Bangladesh struggled to pitch the ball up and got punished as they erred on the shorter side. It allowed the West Indies batters to rock back and play their shots. Matthews, in particular, pounced on this opportunity in the powerplay and blunted the Bangladesh attack. After being on a run-a-ball seven, Matthews lined up the left-arm spin of Nahida Akter with a punch off the backfoot, piercing the gap between cover and extra cover. Two balls later, Nahida bowled short again and received the same treatment.
Leg spinner Fahima Khatun, after having given away just four runs off her first over, bowled short on off stump in the fifth over and Matthews stayed back and punched uppishly to find her third boundary on the off side. Marufa Akter overpitched the last ball of the powerplay, which Matthews drove through cover to bring up her sixth boundary.
But she was bowled by a nip-backer from the fast bowler in the eighth over for a 22-ball 34. At the end of Marufa’s over though, West Indies needed just 49 off 72 balls which was taken care of by Stefanie Taylor – before she limped off retired hurt – and Deandra Dottin, who smashed an unbeaten 19 off just seven balls.
Presentations and Road Ahead
Hayley Matthews the winning skipper said : I think so (everything went to plan). We spoke about being really disciplined with the ball and it was good execution from the bowlers, just getting them to hit where we wanted to. And then with the bat, the intent we were able to come up with. Helps to go into the last match with a healthy NRR. She (Ramharack) was so good at executing and bowling to her field the entire time.
We know she’s one of our most experienced bowlers coming into the tournament, so it’s good to see her get some rewards. (On Taylor) She’s got a knee problem. They’re trying to look after her really well. She’s a fighter, she’s been around for a long time and she knows how to manage her body pretty well. She’s been putting up a good fight this tournament trying to get on the park and stay on the park.
It’s a World Cup, you have to almost win every single match. She’s a crucial part of our line-up. I don’t think any of our doctors or physios would have her out here if she wasn’t up for the challenge. But she’s been up for it every single time. Luckily, we’ve got the last game of the group. We have to win the game. If you want to be competing in World Cups and winning World Cups, you are gonna have to beat the best teams in the world and we are up for the challenge.
Nigar Sultana the losing skipper said : We had a very good start. In the middle overs, we played so many dots. We gave too many wickets as well and that cost us. Their bowlers bowled really well in the middle overs. They didn’t give us any room to play shots. We missed out too many singles. There are a lot of learnings. You have to be positive in this kind of tournament because we have a side that’s not much experienced.
We need to focus on our intent as a batting unit. The bowlers have done their job in each and every game. It’s our job to be strong as a batting unit when we play the next game.
We have to play good cricket (against South Africa) and win. It’s just a game, we want to play as a team and contribute. It (support) was quite amazing. Away from home, it feels like home with so many fans coming here and supporting us throughout. It’s motivating all the players and and we want to finish on a good note.
Karishma Ramharack the Player of the Match for her 4 wickets said : Good to contribute to the team’s win. It was quite slow early up but I just wanted to vary the pace. We knew we had the batters to hit the ball really well, so we discussed that we just had to stay patient. Good to see some of them get back in the runs. Happy with the win. I wasn’t as effective as I should have been at the start of the tournament, happy to have found my form back.
Clinical performance from West Indies! Opting to bowl, their spinners bowled superbly to restrict Bangladesh to 103 on a decent wicket. Karishma Ramharack was the pick of the bowlers as she finished with 4/17 off her 4 overs. In reply, West Indies got off to a flier with captain Hayley Matthews hitting six boundaries inside the powerplay.
Marufa Akter broke the 52-run opening stand by cleaning up Matthews but that hardly had an effect. Taylor, with a dodgy knee, was limping but struck a few boundaries before walking off at the end of the 10th over. Shemaine Campbelle batted positively and perished while attempting a big shot. Deandra Dottin finished off the proceedings quickly with two big sixes. Bangladesh didn’t have enough runs on the board and their sloppy fielding effort didn’t help their cause.
West Indies go to the top of the Group B points table and this win has further boosted their NRR. Their next game against England is the final match of the group stage and they’ll know the exact equation needed to progress to the semifinal. Bangladesh, on the other hand, have lost two in a row and are almost out of the semifinal race (mathematically not).
Karishma Ramharack’s four-wicket haul and Hayley Matthews’ quickfire 34 helped West Indies coast to an important eight-wicket victory against Bangladesh, in Sharjah. Having chased down the target of 104 in 12.5 overs, West Indies, with their second win in three matches, moved to top of Group B. Three teams from this group are now in contention for the two semi-final spots with South Africa and England also on four points, but the latter have played only two matches.
Bangladesh succumbed to their second straight defeat in three matches and their chances of advancing to the knockouts took a big hit. Batting once again hurt Bangladesh as they lost six wickets for 27 runs after they were sent in to bat.