There were several historical moments in the second week of the ongoing Women’s World Cup in New Zealand. Firstly, Bangladesh managed to win their first World Cup game, and later, the Indian pacer, Jhulan Goswami, became the leading wicket-taker in the World Cup. Here is all the news from the World Cup’s second week.
South Africa continues their unimpressive win-streak
On the current rankings, South Africa lies just behind Australia on a second spot, and many pundits expect them to be the team that will challenge Australia the most. So far in the tournament, they are undefeated, but their performances have left many to scratch their head, even themselves. In their opening match against Bangladesh, they were struggling to put a healthy total on the board because they were losing wickets at regular intervals.
They set a target of 208 for Bangladesh, but their bowling performance made sure they finished on the right side. “There were some nervous moments in the match, but I think we have some world-class players who showed their experience today, and the bowlers did an exceptional job to defend that”, Sune Luus, the South African captain, said in a post-match conference.
In their next matches, against Pakistan and England, there were nerves as well, the matches ended in the last over on both occasions. Sune Luus informed the media that World Cup games are not easy, but they are trying their best to focus on the positives, although the performances do not match their expectations.
“We still have not played our best cricket, especially with the bat, but we managed to scrape the runs and walk away with the win”, Marizanne Kapp said.
Bangladesh’s historical win
Bangladesh qualified for their first ODI World Cup even though the qualifiers got cancelled due to a rise in covid cases in Zimbabwe last year. Alongside Pakistan and the West Indies, Bangladesh secured their spot in the World Cup based on their ICC rankings. On Monday, they registered their first win in the tournament against one of their arch-rivals Pakistan, in a match which contained a lot of drama.
“Every time we play Pakistan, we are excited and hungry to win”, Fahima Khatun said in a post-match press conference. “Today, we also discussed that we would play our normal game, and our bowlers bowled according to our plans; they continued to hit the right lengths.”
Jhulan Goswami first player to take 250 wickets
During the second week of the World Cup, Jhulan Goswami wrote her name in the history books twice. First, she managed to break the Australian pacer Lyn Fullston’s record, most wickets in the World Cup, which she held for more than three decades. Goswami has now surpassed her and sit on 41 wickets. The previous record was 39 wickets.
Secondly, in the match against England, she dismissed Tammy Beaumont and picked her 250th ODI wicket. With that, she became the first female player to achieve this feat.
Australia continues to thrash their opponents
With 29 wins from their last 30 in the ODI and ranked top on the rankings, Australia is the favourite to lift the silverware in New Zealand, according to several experts and pundits. Moreover, they continue to show their sheer dominance in the World Cup, they have crushed all the opponents they have faced so far, and one of them is the defending champions, England. The performances have been exemplary and clinical by several players putting their hands up to showcase their skills and contribute to the team.
“We have got some great depth and players who can rescue our innings and build that platform to allow us to play”, Meg Lanning said after their win against New Zealand.
Photograph: ICC Business Corporation FZ LLC 2020
