Suzie Bates makes history as New Zealand smash Bangladesh

MATCH CENTRE AND SCORECARD

The White Ferns opener became the first player to pass 1000 runs at Women’s T20 World Cups, smashing 81 off 61 balls.

And a target of 190 proved well out of Bangladesh’s reach, as they fell 71 runs short.

A superb Powerplay set New Zealand up for their big first-innings score after the White Ferns had won the toss and opted to bat first at Newlands.

The openers scored 49 runs in the first six overs, more than the team had managed in both of their previous Powerplays at the tournament combined.

And although Bernadine Bezuidenhout did fall for a fiery 26-ball 44 to Shorna Akter, New Zealand kept their foot on the pedal to accelerate through the middle overs.

Two wickets in two balls for Fahima Khatun sent Amelia Kerr (16) and Sophie Devine (0) back. But Bates and Maddy Green continued to accelerate toward the death overs.

Bates top-scored, but Green’s explosive 44* from 20 balls saw New Zealand put the Bangladesh attack to the sword as they set the Tigresses 190 to win.

Only Shamima Sultana (14 from 11), Murshida Khatun (30 from 38) and the excellent Shorna Akter (31 from 22) were able to make any significant impression with the bat, as the chances of a win for the chasing side slowly dwindled away.

Eden Carson was the pick of the bowlers with 3/18, as Bangladesh finished eight-down on 118, still 71 runs short.

The result means that Bangladesh are the first team to drop out of contention to qualify for the semi-finals, but New Zealand do still have an outside chance of finishing in the top two.

State of Play in Group 1: New Zealand still alive in three-way tussle for qualification

The Tigresses will not feature in the semi-finals of this tournament, but will depart South Africa with plenty of encouragement.

They still have one game remaining – against hosts South Africa – which offers the opportunity for an upset.

But the big encouragement will be the impressive showings from their younger players. Marufa Akter has been one of the breakout stars of the tournament with the ball, although even she struggled to contain New Zealand’s batters in this onslaught.

And young Shorna Akter has shown that she has the all-round talent to establish herself as an international regular.

There is still an outside possibility that the White Ferns will escape a group-stage exit after this result, but they will need other results to go their way.

To do so they will first need to beat Sri Lanka and by a significant margin in order to leapfrog the Lankans in the standings.

And then New Zealand will require South Africa to lose both of their remaining matches, against Australia and Bangladesh.

Should New Zealand overtake Sri Lanka and South Africa win one of their remaining games, then a top-two finish for the Kiwis would rely on a significant switch in net run rate.