Australia vs Bangladesh, U19 Women’s T20 World Cup 2023 Match Summary
After years of delays the U19 Women’s Cricket World cup 2023 kicked off with an opening game against Australia & Bangladesh where all cricket experts had predicted team Australia to beat Bangladesh easily but today history was made when Bangladesh U19 Women’s team defeated Australia comprehensively and sent a strong message to all the teams to watch out.
HISTORICC!!!
— Female Cricket (@imfemalecricket) January 14, 2023
What a win for Bangladesh U19 in the first-ever match of the U19 Women's World Cup 😍#CricketTwitter #U19T20WorldCup pic.twitter.com/be3YPARdJg
1st Innings Summary
Team Australia won the toss and elected to bat first in the opening game of the U19 Women’s T20 World Cup, played at Willowmoore Park, Benoni. However, after winning the toss they got the worst possible start of their U19 world cup journey when they lost both openers Kate Pele for 5 runs & Paris Bowdler for 7 runs cheaply.
The middle order of the Australian team fought back with Claire Moore scoring 52 runs at a strike rate of 101.96, and Ella Hayward with a 35 runs knock at a below-average strike rate of only 89.74. Unfortunately for team Australia, they lost the set batters at the wrong time and lost a bit of momentum in the final overs. Amy Smith & Rhys McKenna did slog in the end and helped them reach a below-par total of 130 runs in 20 overs.
For Bangladesh, Mst Dipa Khatun bowled incredibly well as she restricted Australia in her four assigned overs brilliantly and gave away only 16 runs in 4 overs with 11 dot balls. Marufa Akter & Disha Biswas each got 2 wickets while Rabeya got one wicket. Team Bangladesh used 6 bowlers to bowl 20 assigned overs with spin doing the major trick.
Stage Set For the Chase
Bangladesh needed only 131 runs to create history while Australia needed 10 wickets to restrict them. The 1st wicket was gone on the 1st ball Misty Shaha faced as kicked off Rhys McKenna’s wide delivery and everyone thought at this point Australia got the best possible start they would have hoped for while defending a below-average score.
But Afia Prottasha & Dilara Akter build up a great partnership by scoring 24 & 40 runs at strike rates of 109.09 & 95.23 respectively. The platform was all set but 2 back to back wickets fall down which gave Australia a bit of hope and the match was still on.
Youngster Sumaiya Akter had other plans though. She played a match-winning blistering knock of 41 runs off 27 balls at a strike rate of 151.85 which made this chase completely one-sided. Sumaiya helped Bangladesh create history today by beating Australia for the first time ever in World tournaments at the Women’s cricket level.
Australia U19 Vs Bangladesh U19
— Bangladesh Cricket (@BCBtigers) January 14, 2023
Bangladesh U19s won by 7 wickets.
Photo credit: ICC – International Cricket Council
For match details: https://t.co/0Ylvz8zq1I#BCB | #cricket | #U19 pic.twitter.com/2hxtUkfa9C
For Australia Rhys McKenna & Amy Smith have gone for plenty which is something they need to work on in coming matches. The line and length to bowl on these South African pitches are crucial and this is what coaches of Australia need to tell these young cricketers to keep in mind in the game.
With this win, team Bangladesh has grabbed a good opportunity to reach the second round by winning another game as a minimum. They are yet to face USA 19 & Sri Lanka U19 in coming matches. You can watch the u19 women’s t20 world cup live streaming to stay updated throughout this exciting tournament.
