Australia continued their fine run in the Women's T20 World Cup courtesy of some brilliant bowling by Georgia Wareham and then a calm innings by Meg Lanning with the bat.
The young Wareham returned from an Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL) more than a year back and returning to the starting XI, the leg-spinner bagged three wickets as the Australians kept the Bangladeshi women to just 107 runs in 20 overs. Then, Lanning carried the team over the line with a slow yet composed innings.
The only Bangladeshi batter to perform on the night was skipper Nigar Sultana (57 off 50). The openers for the side batting first lost their wickets cheaply after a sharp catch from Beth Mooney removed Shamima Sultana (1 off 4) off Darcie Brown. The pacer then clean-bowled Murshida Khatun (7 off 8) as the Bangladesh side were reeling at 11/2.
Skipper Sultana understood the task at hand and her hitting ability helped Bangladesh reach 34/2 at the end of the powerplay overs. She kept the scoreboard ticking as wickets kept falling at one end, and in doing so, became the first Bangladeshi woman to ever score a fifty in a T20 World Cup.
However, just when she got into her groove, she gave away her wicket via a catch to Meg Lanning off the bowling of Ashleigh Gardner.
In reply, the Australian women suffered an early scare while chasing this low total after Beth Mooney (2) was dismissed by Marufa Akter. The defending champions kept the pressure on their opponents before Shorna Akter got the much-needed breakthrough when she dismissed Alyssa Healy for 37 runs off 36 balls. Although Australia's rate of scoring runs slowed, Lanning's unbeaten 48, coupled with Gardner's unbeaten 19 took Australia over the line with 10 balls to spare.
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Lanning was appreciative of Wareham's contributions, especially given her long road to recovery. "It's great to see Georgia Wareham back out there today. She's had a long road back from a pretty serious injury. To have her back in the side doing so well was really great to see. She's a game-changer. She's able to impact the game in all three facets and that's pretty handy to have," she said.
The veteran batter and skipper of the Australian side Lanning will travel to India immediately after the World Cup to join the Delhi Capitals for the Women's Premier League's (WPL) inaugural season. She will be joined by Jess Jonassen in the team, while Georgia Wareham will also fly to the subcontinent to turn out for the Gujarat Giants.
