Mighty England next for spirited Thais in women’s T20
PERTH: Debutants Thailand will have their work cut out when they play their second women’s Twenty20 World Cup Group B match against mighty England on Wednesday in Canberra.
England were playing South Africa in their opener last night.
Thailand lost to the West Indies, the 2016 champions, by seven wickets in Perth on Saturday, but won the plaudits for putting on a spirited fight.
Thailand are the lowest-ranked team in the tournament and made it to the finals in Australia after a fairytale run in qualification.
“It’s been a long time waiting,” Thailand opener Nattaya Boochatham said.
“It was really exciting to get on the ground, get on the World Cup stage and show the people of the world that Thailand can play very good cricket.”
The Thais are scheduled to take on South Africa on Friday before facing Pakistan in their last group stage game on March 3.
NZ DEFEAT SRI LANKA
New Zealand captain Sophie Devine says her team is comfortable to “fly under the radar” after starting the women’s Twenty20 World Cup with a seven-wicket victory over Sri Lanka in Perth on Saturday.
The Kiwis have made the early running in Group A along with India, who downed defending champions Australia on day one. Only the top two from each of the two five-team groups qualify for the knockout phase.
Favoured New Zealand battled chasing 128 against Sri Lanka until Devine capitalised on two dropped chances en route to a match-winning knock of 75 not out.
After a nervous start, Devine found support through Maddy Green in a 61-run third-wicket partnership to power New Zealand to victory with 14 balls to spare.
New Zealand still face a battle to reach the semi-finals with tough matches against India and Australia ahead.
Devine, however, said her team was not bothered about being underestimated.