Knight helps England avoid shock against Bangladesh

ICC Women’s World Cup, Guwahati

Bangladesh 178 (49.4 overs): Sobhana 60 (108); Ecclestone 3-24

England 182-6 (46.1 overs): Knight 79* (111); Fahima 3-16

England won by four wickets

Heather Knight’s unbeaten 79 led England to an unconvincing four-wicket win over Bangladesh to maintain their winning start to the Women’s World Cup in Guwahati.

Chasing just 179 to win on a tricky pitch, England slumped to 78-5 and 103-6 as their familiar woes against spin continued to surface.

But a patient, unbroken stand of 79 between Knight and Charlie Dean, who made 27, saw England reach their target in the 47th over.

Seamer Marufa Akter removed openers Amy Jones and Tammy Beaumont early with swinging deliveries, before the turning point came in the 15th over when former captain Knight was given a reprieve on 13.

Knight drilled the ball to Shorna Akter at extra cover, but the third umpire deemed that the fielder had dragged the ball along the turf as she dived forward, with this coming after Knight had also overturned a caught behind and an lbw.

From there on, she was gritty and disciplined in her first innings back from a hamstring injury as England edged a nerve-wracking contest which would have been one of the tournament’s all-time upsets.

Fahima Khatun was the instigator of England’s middle-order wobble with 3-16, leading an admirable bowling and fielding performance after their batters had similarly struggled.

England’s spinners unsurprisingly dominated, taking nine wickets between them as Bangladesh were bowled out for 178 in 49.4 overs.

Sophie Ecclestone starred with 3-24 while Charlie Dean, Linsey Smith and Alice Capsey took two wickets apiece.

There was stubborn resistance from Sobhana Mostary, who made 60 from 108 balls, before Rabeya Khan provided some late and valuable momentum with an unbeaten 43 from 27.

England came into the tournament with a point to prove after the Ashes and series defeats against India in the summer, and one of their biggest struggles in recent times has been to perform under pressure.

It looked like that trend was continuing in the most shocking of twists, with Beaumont and Jones undone by swing before some soft dismissals followed.

Nat Sciver-Brunt softly hit a full toss to mid-wicket having looked in good touch for 32, Sophia Dunkley was trapped on the crease to be pinned lbw for nought and Emma Lamb chipped Fahima to mid-off for one.

But Knight absorbed all of the pressure, having survived the three scares – and the catch that was not given had clearly aggrieved the Bangladesh fielders with captain Nigar Sultana Joty seen in conversation with the on-field umpires.

Knight used all of her experience, playing in her 151st one-day international, and refused to panic. She had 15 from her first 50 balls, and her 86-ball fifty was the second slowest of her England career.

Once she had settled in unfamiliar conditions, she swept effectively and used her feet to nullify the spin, and found mature support in both Dean and Alice Capsey, who made 20 before she was pinned lbw by a beautiful turning delivery from Sanjida Akther Maghla.

Dean’s simple gameplan of rotating the strike with Knight was exactly what England needed with little run-rate pressure, and was a lesson in discipline to the top order.

Though the batting was a struggle, England proved once again that they have one of the most well-rounded bowling attacks to compete in these conditions.

Guwahati has proven to be a happy hunting ground for England’s spin quartet – having also taken seven wickets against South Africa – and though they travel to Colombo, Indore and Visakhapatnam for the remaining group stage matches, it could be useful should they return to the venue for one of the semi-finals.

There was 2.7 degrees of spin on average throughout the game – the most of any game in the tournament to date.

Smith, Ecclestone, Dean and Capsey all conceded fewer than four runs per over but were under no pressure from Bangladesh’s batters until Rabeya’s unlikely cameo which included six fours and the innings’ only six, which almost became a match-winning knock.

Bangladesh started positively, reaching 23-0 from four overs, but the dismissals of opener Rubya Haider Jhilik and captain Nigar Sultana Joty saw them stall completely and trudge to 31-2 by the end of the first powerplay with Smith dominating again.

What followed was a bizarre passage of play, with 23 runs scored in 11.1 overs from Sobhana and Ritu Moni, who made five from 36 balls, as they lacked the experience and game awareness to rotate the strike efficiently as Knight subsequently managed.

England captain Nat Sciver-Brunt: “We did what we needed to do to get over line. Before the tournament we spoke as a group that not everything is going to be easy and we will need some resilience in our skills. It could have looked a bit better but we are really happy.

“The calmness they [Knight and Dean] both showed in a high pressure situation was brilliant. We would have liked to have done it with a few less wickets down but that is the way it went in the end.”

Bangladesh captain Nigar Sultana Joty: “It was an incredible game, especially with the way my girls fought until the last ball.

“We were maybe 20 or 30 runs short on that wicket. Should Rabeya have batted higher?

“I wanted the batters to play until the last ball because we could have got 10 or 12 runs more. They are very young and sometimes not making the decisions and we wanted to give them knowledge to capitalise in the middle.”