Ireland, Scotland register mammoth wins over France, Germany

It was a day of sheer dominance in the T20 World Cup Europe Qualifier on Sunday (August 29). Ireland and Scotland both returned thumping wins over France and Germany respectively.



At the La Manga Club Bottom Ground in Spain, France had yet another forgettable outing. After being dismissed for 33 by Netherlands in their previous outing, France crumbled to their lowest T20I total, being dismissed for just 24. While Tara Britton was caught and bowled for zero in the very first over by Sophie MacMahon, her opening partner Alix Brodin was dismissed in the fourth over for one.



France found themselves at nine for four in the tenth over, after which Jennifer King, the no.3 batter, fell for three off a painstaking 34 balls. The wickets then tumbled quickly as Ireland dismissed them for 24 with Eimear Richardson returning two wickets for nought in her 13 balls. Leah Paul, too, picked up a couple of wickets, giving away just five runs.



Ireland, in reply, got home without breaking much sweat, romping home to a ten-wicket win in just 16 balls.



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At the Upper Ground, Germany had another forgettable outing, with table-toppers Scotland making life tough for them. Inside the power play, five of the German batters were dismissed. Teenager Katherine Fraser was the wrecker-in-chief picking up three of the five wickets to fall.



The partnerships for wickets seven, eight and nine lasted over 20 balls each but the runs were hard to come by for Germany. Karthika Vijayaraghavan’s six was the highest score for them with Sharanya Sadarangani’s five coming next. While the Ireland bowlers bowled 13 extras, Scotland’s bowlers bettered them, delivering 14. Germany were bowled out for 36, their second-lowest T20I total.



Scotland then galloped to a win with over 15 overs to spare, keeping a clean slate. Sarah Bryce scored an unbeaten 23 off 21 balls.



Scotland are assured of qualification to the global qualifiers, having won all their games. With their last game on Monday being against France, they would end up topping the table in all likelihood.



Brief Scores



France 24 all out in 16.1 overs (Eimear Richardson 2/0, Leah Paul 2/5) lost to Ireland 25/0 in 2.4 overs

Germany 36 all out in 20 overs (Katherine Fraser 3/6, Kathryn Bryce 2/6) lost to Scotland 37/0 in 4.5 overs (Sarah Bryce 23*) by 10 wickets