Nahida Akhter became the top wicket-taker for Bangladesh in ODIs after taking two wickets against Australia but the Tigress suffered a massive118 runs defeat in their first ODI off three-match series on Thursday.
Nahida, earned the feat with record breaking 53 wickets surpassing Salma Khatun’s 52.
However, held at the Sher-e-Bangla Natioanl Cricket Stadium, Mirpur, Bangladesh captain Nigar Sultana won the toss and deciding to field first initially put the Aussie batters under pressure but failed to restrict them to a meagre total.
Australian women despite suffering early collapse, riding on responsible batting from three late order batters finally set a challenging 214 runs target for Bangaldesh and later on bundled out the hosts only for a mere 95 runs and won the match by 118 runs to lead the series by 1-0.
It was an uphill task for Bangladesh women to chase 213 runs against the
World Champions Australia, from the initial stage their bowlers bowled with great intensity, revealing their intention to take wickets in quick successions.
The Aussie bowlers translated their strength as only three batters of Bangladesh reached double digit and eight were sent back for 18 runs including two ducks and finally bundled out for 95 runs.
Bangladesh, replying to the challenging total also saw early set back losing the first wicket for one and redcued to 21 for two.
Though one of the openers Sobhana Mostary and one down Murshida Kahtun tried to get rid of the trouble, did not last long as their partnership lasted only for 20 runs. After being reduced to 21 for two, captain Nigar Sultana joined Sobhana Mostary and it looked Bangladesh would bounce back when they were recovering well with scoring 49 runs in the third wicket stand.
However, Sobahan Mostary left her captain after scoring 17 runs with team’s total at 70 and rest of the Tigress batters could not deal with the Aussie bowlers comfortably, as team’s innings folded for a paltry 95 runs within 37 overs.
Captain Nigar Sultana fought alone with her 64-ball 27 run innings.
Apart from Nigar Sultana, second highest came from extras with 23 runs. Sobhana and Murshida were the other two batters to reach double digit with scores of 17 and 10 respectively.
Earlier, right arm Offbreak bowler Sultana Khatun made the breakthrough in the first ball of the second over of Australian innings following a maiden over from opening bowler Marufa. Australia suffered early blow and Tigress were onslaught with their disciplined bowling, as Australia were losing wickets in regular interval and were reduced to 78 for five by 25 overs.
Nahida Akhter, who received recently won the award from ICC, as the player of the month for November, was the most successful bowler and with claiming two wickets conceding only 27 runs in her 10 overs spell.
When the Aussies’ top and middle order collapsed and were reduced to 146 for seven, it looked that they would not go a far, number six and seven batters just halted the disaster to repair the damage.
But the number seven and nine batters played significant innings’ to take the team to 213-7 from 146-7. Bangaldesh bowlers just lost their tempo, as Annabel Sutherland and Alana King scored 67 runs in 9.2 overs during their eighth wicket stand.