'I’m so proud of them' - Kathryn Bryce

Scotland captain Kathryn Bryce was full of praise for her side despite their WT20Q elimination at the hands of tournament favourites Bangladesh.

Scotland fell to a 49-run defeat, and Bangladesh therefore progressed alongside Ireland to compete in the 2018 ICC Women's world T20 in the West Indies this November.

Bryce has averaged 39 with the bat and has picked up four wickets thus far in the qualifying stages, while her sister Sarah has also impressed, averaging 60.5 from the top of the batting line-up. Scotland play PNG on Saturday 13 July in a battle for third place, but Bryce confirmed her side's sadness at missing the cut.

"Obviously everyone is a bit disappointed at the moment. I think it’s tough, when you have that expectation of getting to the World Cup. Although everybody is disappointed we need to remember we have got another game to win on Saturday."

Bangladesh's opening stand of 51 inside the first seven overs of the semi-final spelled ominous signs for Scotland, but Bryce hailed her team's spirit as her bowlers managed to resrict their opponents to 125/6. Scotland only managed 76/7 in response.

"It was definitely reachable. From the position they were in, we brought it back a a lot and they could have easily gone on and made 140/150, so I think we did really well in that second half to contain them to 120.

"I’m so proud of them. It’s been incredible and not just in this past week. The past few months just getting into the position we are in it’s been incredible. Obviously we are going to be sad and disappointed in the next few days, but in the coming weeks when we look back on it we will realise how far we have got."

Bryce was keen to draw positives from the defeat, and cited previous outings against established international teams as she outlined her side's progression.

"In the past year we have shown how much we have improved in the T20 game. If we go back to a couple of years ago, we wouldn’t have been able to perform so well against the Bangladeshis, so to put up that kind of performance against them shows what we can do we can come back in a couple of years and improve on it again.

"In the past we have played these teams and been hoping to just get anywhere near them, but now we can really push them and even take the win against them. That shows how far we have come and hopefully that will progress in the next few years and we can catch them up."