Bangladesh kickstart ICC Women's T20 WC with win over Scotland

Sharjah [UAE], October 3 (ANI): Kicking off the latest edition of the ICC Women's T20 World Cup in UAE, Nigar Sultana led Bangladesh defeated Scotland by 16 runs on Thursday in a closely-contest match thanks to a fine spell from their bowlers, particularly Ritu Moni.
The victory for the de facto tournament hosts is their first win at a Women's T20 World Cup since 2014 and gets their Group B campaign off to the perfect start.
But for Scotland, a lack of support for the excellent Sarah Bryce (49* from 52 with a four) saw them fall short on their tournament debut in the mid-afternoon heat in the United Arab Emirates.
The Tigeresses made regular inroads into the Scotland top order as they looked to defend their total of 119/7 in Sharjah.
The excellent Fahima Khatun picked up the first wicket for 26 runs when she lured Saskia Horley (8 off 12) down the track to set up a stumping for Nigar Sultana.
And a promising partnership between Scotland's Bryce sisters came to an abrupt end when Marufa Akter cleaned up Kathryn Bruce (11 from 11) in the final over the powerplay, ending the partnership of 42 runs and bringing Scotland to 68/2.
Scotland set themselves up with a chance for the second half the chase, but an attempt to increase the scoring rate put paid to Ailsa Lister's innings as she lofted a catch to Rabeya Khan off Ritu Moni for 11 off 12, leaving the Scots on 49/3 at the midway point of the second innings. But wickets continued to fall as Scotland struggled to up the run rate in the face of a controlled Bangladesh bowling performance, most notably from the spinners.
While Sarah Bryce remained there was some hope for Scotland, but she could not do it all on her own and ended unbeaten on 49* from 52, with none of the lower order able to find the boundary and put the Scots in contention.
They finished on 103/7, still 16 runs short of the target, missing out on what would have been a famous upset in their first-ever World Cup match.

Earlier, Bangladesh won the toss and elected to bat first in the tournament opener against Scotland in Sharjah.
Bangladesh openers Shathi Rani and Murshida Khatun looked to show positive intent from the start, but disciplined bowling from Scotland kept them close to the rate of six in the first four overs. And this yielded a result when Khatun (12 from 14) looked to up the ante and mistimed a lofted shot down the ground off Kathryn Bryce to give Scotland their first wicket in the fifth over.
Number three batter Sobhana Mostary started in a similar vein to the openers and soon restarted building the innings along with Rani. A shot too many brought the downfall of Rani, who was caught in the deep while trying to go after Fraser for 29 from 32 balls.
Soon after, Taj Nehar (0 from 1) was run out short of the crease after a misunderstanding with Mostary. Mostary (36 from 38 balls with two fours) and captain Nigar Sultana (18 from 18, with a four) moved the total up towards a competitive one through the middle overs.
But breakthroughs from Olivia Bell and Saskia Horley gave Scotland the advantage in the death overs, with Bangladesh finished at 119/7, boosted by Fahima Khatun's (10* off 5) attacking cameo.
Horley finished with a career-best performance of 3/13 for Scotland in an impressive team bowling display.
The ninth edition of the ICC Women's T20 World Cup 2024 kicks off today in the UAE. The day's first match will be followed by a meeting of Asian rivals Pakistan and Sri Lanka in the evening encounter at the same venue. (ANI)