Bangladesh & Scotland Emerge Victorious On Second Day Of ICC CWG Qualifier 2022

On day two of the ICC Commonwealth Games, Women's Qualifier 2022 at the Kinrara Oval in Kuala Lumpur on Wednesday, Bangladesh and Scotland registered wins. While Bangladesh romped to an 80-run victory over Kenya, Scotland overcame Malaysia by 31 runs.

Bangladesh were aided by an unbeaten partnership of 75 for the seventh wicket between Salma Khatun (33 off 32 balls) and Ritu Moni (39 off 34 balls) to reach 125 before Player of the Match Nahida Akter broke the back of the Kenyan run chase with impressive figures of 5/12, the best by a Bangladesh bowler in women's T20Is.

After Kenya won the toss and elected to bowl, Lavendah Idambo leaked 16 runs in an expensive opening over, including two boundaries and three wide deliveries. However, she bounced back with the wicket of opener Shamima Sultana before Mercyline Ochieng trapped Nigar Sultana in front and dismissed Rumana Ahmed first ball.

Murshida Khatun struck a few boundaries to the off-side fence before getting a leading edge to Queentor Abel who made no mistake, taking the catch off her own bowling. In her very next over, Abel picked up the scalps of both Sobhana Mostary and Fargana Hoque to leave Bangladesh reeling at 50 for six at the end of nine overs.

A period of consolidation followed as Ritu and Salma opted to rotate the strike and play out Abel's remaining overs. After getting their eye in, they accelerated the run rate with Ritu lofting Sarah Bhakita into mid-wicket for a boundary. They picked up 30 runs in the final three overs to lift Bangladesh to a respectable 125.

In reply, Kenya's innings never got going. Veronica Abuga edged Salma Khatun through to keeper Shamima Sultana in the first over. Bowling the second over, Suraya Azmim trapped Queentor Abel in front for nine. A brilliant direct hit from Murshida Khatun caught Sylvia Kinyua short of her crease before Kenyan skipper Margarte Ngoche was trapped in front by a Nahida Akter arm ball.

Akter was able to extract turn from the wicket squaring up Venasa Ooko with a delivery that spun in before straightening to clip her off stump. Amidst the chaos, Sharon Juma's 24 off 20 balls was the only resistance of note from Kenya's batting line-up as they fell 80 runs short of Bangladesh's total.

In the second match, Kathryn Bryce's unbeaten 62 helped Scotland post 148 before Katherine Fraser took four for 19 to deliver a 31-run win over Malaysia. After winning the toss and electing to bat, Sarah Bryce clipped a couple of boundaries off her toes with fellow opener Abbi Aitken-Drummond joining in the party. However, left-arm spinner Arianna Natasya dismissed Sarah in her very first over to put a lid on the scoring.

Bryce then walked in at three, putting on a 63-run partnership with Aitken-Drummond. Just as it looked like Scotland was pushing a total in the region of 160, they lost four quick wickets. Nik Atiela had both Aitken-Drummond and the aggressive Katie McGill stumped before Mas Elysa chipped in with a pair of wickets for herself.

Bryce, however, held strong and continued to pepper the leg-side boundary. Her seventh delivery came off the final delivery of the innings as Malaysia were set a target of 149. In reply, Malaysia came storming out of the blocks. Three cover drives from Winifred Duraisingam set the tone for the innings with Wan Julia joining in the fun, walloping left-armer Rachel Slater for four down the ground.

However, the tide turned when off-spinner Katherine Fraser was introduced into the attack. Wan Julia chipped a catch to Aitken-Drummond before Duraisingam played inside one to lose her off stump in the very same over.

Soon after, Yusrina Yakoop was trapped in front before Mas Elysa lobbed a catch to Kathryn Bryce for Abtaha Maqsood's first wicket. Leg-spinner Maqsood grabbed her second wicket when she trapped Nur Ilya in front for a duck.

When Ainna Hamizah was dismissed by Hannah Rainey, Malaysia were reeling at 69 for seven. However, Intan Jaafar and Nur Zulaika would put on a 45-run partnership with every one of their scoring shots cheered by a vociferous Malaysia dugout. The hosts ended on 117 for eight.