England dodge weather to notch first win

England celebrate another Bangladesh wicket during their victory at the Darren Sammy Cricket Stadium.

GROS ISLET, St Lucia,  CMC – England finally notched their first win of the ICC Women’s Twenty20 World Cup when they condemned Bangladesh to their second defeat, in a rain-affected affair at the Darren Sammy Cricket Stadium.

In the first match at the venue following the rained-off opener last weekend, England easily chased down a revised target of 64 to get their title bid up and running with a seven-wicket win under Duckworth-Lewis-Stern here yesterday.

Amy Jones struck an unbeaten 28 off 24 deliveries while Natalie Sciver belted a 17-ball unbeaten 23 as England hardly exerted themselves in an uncomplicated outing.

They were stunned up front when Danielle Wyatt fell to the first ball of the innings and Tammy Beaumont followed in the third over for two – both to off-spinner Salma Khatun (2-17).

Their dismissals left the innings in a spot of bother at 13 for two before Jones and Sciver put on 38 for the third wicket.

England celebrate another Bangladesh wicket during their victory at the Darren Sammy Cricket Stadium.

England’s original target was 77 but the rain, which has been around for the past week, arrived to interrupt the innings at 55 for three at the end of the ninth over.

On resumption, captain Heather Knight (11 not out) struck a couple of boundaries off the first two balls of the tenth over from leg-spinner Rumana Ahmed before taking a single behind square to get England over the line.

Sent in earlier, Bangladesh struggled to 76 for nine off their 20 overs, with opener Ayasha Rahman top-scoring with 39 off 52 deliveries.

The right-hander struck two fours and three sixes to provide the impetus for the innings but once she holed out to mid-wicket off left-arm spinner Kirstie Gordon (3-21) in the 13th over, the runs dried up.