Bangladesh triumph over Scotland, to face Ireland in the finals

Having won the toss, Scotland elected to field first, sending in Bangladesh to bat. In a must-win match, where the winner qualified for the Twenty20 World Cup in November, Bangladesh emerged victorious, defeating Scotland by 49 runs in their chase of 125.

Openers Shamima Sultana (22 off 16) and Ayesha Rahman (20 off 27) laid down a solid platform for Bangladesh with their 51-run partnership, to set them up to achieve a competitive total. However, after the wicket off Sultana fell, a mini-collapse ensued and Bangladesh found themselves at 58-3. From there, Nigar Sultana played the role of an anchor, scoring 31* off 36 balls to guide her team to 125-6, while the batters at the other end went hard at the bowlers. Valuable contributions from Fahima Khatun (15 off 16) and Sanjida Islam (19 off 18) meant the batters posted a total on the board their bowlers could defend.

For Scotland, Priyanaz Chatterji took two wickets while conceding just 17 runs, to do the most damage to the Bangladeshi line-up. Skipper Kathryn Bryce, Katie McGill and Abtaha Maqsood chipped in with one wicket each, as well.

Chasing, Scotland lost opener, Rachel Scholes, cheaply. Sisters Sarah Bryce (31 off 44) and Kathryn Bryce (21 off 22) then consolidated to help get the chase back on track with their 43-run second wicket stand. However, after the wicket of S. Bryce fell, Scotland lost wickets at regular intervals, with no other batter reaching double figures. Wickets falling frequently also slowed down the run-rate for Scotland and they finished their innings at 76-7 off their 20 overs, falling 49 runs short of the target.

Nahida Akter and Rumana Ahmed took two wickets each to ensure Scotland continued to stumble in the run-chase and never really find any rhythm, while Salma Khatun and Fahima Khatun claimed a scalp each to help guide their team to a comfortable win.

Bangladesh has now qualified for the Twenty20 World Cup in the West Indies later this year and what a journey it has been for them: first, defeating India in the Asia Cup final, then defeating Ireland in their series and now qualifying for the World Cup. Will they continue this winning streak and triumph over Ireland as well, in the finals?