Women's World Cup Qualifying Tournament - playing day 7, 24th November
Ireland retained their ODI status today when they beat Netherlands to ensure they finish in the top six of the Women's World Cup Qualifying tournament in Bangladesh. Helmien Rambaldo won the toss for Netherlands and decided to bat. Ireland struck in the third over when Kim Garth had Miranda Veringmeier caught for a duck. Rambaldo joined Denise Hannema and the pair advanced the score to 28 against Garth and Louise McCarthy, restored to the side in place of the injured Amy Kenealy.
Isobel Joyce ran out Hannema for 12 in the 12 th over, and then brought herself into the attack with Eimear Richardson, but Kerry-Anne Tomlinson and Rambaldo batted twenty overs together to reach 83-2, when Isobel Joyce struck again, running out Tomlinson for 34. Jill Whelan immediately had Esther Lanser lbw for a duck, then Elena Tice had Marijn Nijman caught for 3, and when Richardson had Rambaldo caught for 27, the Dutch had folded to 96-6. Carlijn de Groot and Esther de Lange added 27, when de Groot was caught behind by Mary Waldron off Richardson for 19. Marika Kornet was run out by Laura Delany for 5, Jolen Hartenhof caught by Tice off Isobel Joyce for 1, leaving de Lange (11*) and Louise Bennett (0*) to bat out the overs.
Netherlands closed on 139-9, and all the Ireland bowling figures looked good: Garth 1/22 off 5; McCarthy 0/9 off 6; Joyce 1/29 off 10; Richardson 2/34 off 10; Tice 1/22 off 10; and Whelan 1/12 off 7. The only blemish was the wide and no ball total – 24. In reply, Clare Shillington hit three fours inside the first three overs before she was bowled by Tomlinson for 12 out of 18. Melissa Scott-Hayward had been promoted to open, and scored 13 out of 36 when she was run out in the eighth over. Jill Whelan added 30 in seven overs with Cecilia Joyce, when Joyce was caught behind for 20 off Bennett. Four overs later, Bennett bowled Whelan for 27, and eight overs on, Richardson was caught off Bennett for 22, including four fours.
At this point, Ireland needed only 22 more runs in 23 overs, and Isobel Joyce and Laura Delany got their heads down to make sure there was no collapse. Tomlinson returned to bowl Joyce for 18, but Delany (8*) and Garth (2*) saw Ireland home in the 33 rd over. For Netherlands, Bennett took 3/20, and Tomlinson 2/30. Eimear Richardson was again awarded Player of the Match.
Ireland will now play off on Saturday against Bangladesh for 5 th place, after the host nation were far too good for USA. Doris Francis won the toss for the Americans and opened with herself and Delkash Shahriarian. The latter was lbw to Jahanara Alam in the fourth over, when keeper Shebani Bhaskar joined her skipper. Bhaskar was caught and bowled by Suktara Rahaman for 13 out of 32 in the nineteenth over, then Durga Das came in to score 11 in eight overs. She was caught and bowled by Ireland's nemesis, off spinner Khadiza Tul Kubra, who then sent back Nadia Gruny and Erica Rendler for ducks.
Francis was stumped off Rumana Ahmed for 23, Trinholder Marshall run out, Sara Farooq caught off Khadiza Tul Kubra, Samantha Ramautar a second stumping for Yasmin Boishakhi, Anahita Arora caught, and USA had gone from 60-2 in the 27 th over to 78 all out (including 20 wides) in the 48 th over. Khadiza Tul Kubra was again the Bangladeshi star turn with 4/20. Ayesha Akhter fell to Marshall in the 5 th over, but Suktara Rahaman (29*) and Farjan Hoque (27*) got their team home in 18.5 overs.
In the two semi finals, there was the expected win for the West Indies over Sri Lanka, but group A winners South Africa were beaten by Group B runners-up Pakistan. Aguilleira won the toss for West Indies and sent in her star opening bats Stafanie Taylor and Juliana Nero. The score had reached 42 in the 11 th over when Nero was caught off Ranasinghe for 18. Two overs later, Shanel Daley was caught for a duck. Deandra Dottin joined Taylor, and the pair added in 68 in 20 overs, when Taylor was caught behind off Siriwardene for 58. The skipper came in at five and helped add 70 in 11 overs before Dottin was lbw for 73. Stacy-Ann King was run out after facing one ball, but Aguilleira (52*) and Britney Cooper (23*) scored 43 in the last six overs for the Windies to close on 235-5. Best of the Sri Lankan bowlers was Ranasinghe, with 2/31 off her 10.
Jayangani and Mendis put on 67, when Mendis was run out for 20 in the nineteenth over. King removed Siriwardene, Taylor had Jayangani caught for 56, King bowled Dolawatte, then Anisa Mohammed took three wickets in two overs to reduce Sri Lanka to 107-7 in the 35 th over. They lost no more wickets, but fell 58 runs short as de Alwis (39*) and Seneviratna (28*) restored some Sri Lankan pride. King finished with 2/30 off 10 and Mohammed 3/29 off 6.
At Mirpur, the Pakistan bowlers restricted the South African batters to 180-9. The prolific Shandre Fritz was caught and bowled by Asmavia Iqbal for 6, Trisha Chetty was lbw to Sana Mir for 20, and the Pakistani spinners made the Proteas fight for every run. Dane van Niekerk made 31, Mignon du Preez 41 and Marizella Kapp 29, but there was no late surge. Asmavia Iqbal took 3/15 in 5 overs; best of the rest was Nida Dar with 1/22 off 10.
Sana Mir and Nida Dar both went for ducks in the first two overs, Qanita Jalil followed for 10 in the seventh over and Bismah Maroof was stumped off Loubser for 23 in the sixteenth. From 43-4, Nain Abidi (29) and Javeria Khan added 58, but Rabiya Shah didn't last long, and when Javeria Khan was caught off van Niekerk for 47, Pakistan still needed 41 off 8.2 overs with three wickets in hand. Marina Iqbal (28*) and Player of the Match Asmavia Iqbal (22*) needed only 37 balls for victory.
On Saturday, Pakistan face West Indies in the final, while Sri Lanka play South Africa for third place. Bangladesh play Ireland, and Netherlands play USA for seventh place.