Twitter Reactions: New Zealand beat Bangladesh by nine wickets in rain-interrupted encounter

New Zealand faced Bangladesh in their second group game of the ongoing Women’s World Cup. The hosts needed a win in this game badly but rain at one stage threatened to wash out. However, it relented finally to allow a 27-over per side affair. The White Ferns did well in the game to down the spirited Bangladesh side by nine wickets even as DLS method decided the result of the encounter.

Earlier, Sophie Devine won the toss and invited the opposition to bat first. New Zealand were stunned by the assault from the Bangladesh openers Shamima Sultana and Fargana Hoque. The former was aggressive in her shot making especially and took toll on the pacer bowler Lea Tahuhu with the ball coming on to the bat nicely. However, her enterprising knock of 33 runs ended was ended by Frances Mackay.

The opening partnership of 59 runs in just 9.2 overs had set a perfect platform the middle-order but none of the batters could get going. The spinners tied their batters with only Hoque crossing the 50-run mark. Her unfortunate run-out while on 52 dried out the runs completely with Amy Satterthwaite showing her experience with the ball.

She nipped out three quick wickets to leave Bangladesh struggling and in the end, they could only reach 140 runs for the loss of 8 wickets in their 27 overs. Satterthwaite ended with the figures of 3/25 in her five overs.

Bates leads the way in the chase

It was never going to be a tough chase for New Zealand but Bangladesh spinners were always going to be a threat. Sophie Devine who was coming off a terrific ton in the previous game couldn’t hang around for long and was castled by Salma Khatun for just 14 runs in the 7th over of the innings. But this remained Bangladesh only success for the entire innings.

Suzie Bates took the aggressive route while Amelia Kerr did what she does best at number three. Both the batters batted superbly and were in full flow churning out boundaries at will. Rain kept threatening during the chase but on DLS method, the White Ferns were always ahead.

Thanks to the second wicket stand, they easily chased down the target with seven overs to spare. Bates ended unbeaten on 79 off 68 deliveries while Kerr remained not out on 47 off 37 balls.

Here’s how Twitter reacted: