A spirited Bangladesh lost to four-time champions England by four wickets in their second match of the ICC Women鈥檚 World Cup at the Barsapara Cricket Stadium in Guwahati on Tuesday.听
Bangladesh posted 178 in 49.4 overs thanks to Sobhana Mostary鈥檚 60 off 108 and Rabeya Khan鈥檚 unbeaten 43 off 27 after being asked to bat first.听
England reached 182-6 with 3.5 overs in hand thanks to their former captain Heather Knight, who was unbeaten on 79 off 111.听
Pacer Marufa Akter removed the openers, as Tammy Beaumont and Amy Jones were both trapped lbw.听
Fahima Khatun then kept England reeling as she took three crucial wickets of captain Nat Sciver-Burnt, Sophia Dunkley, and Emma Lamb, with England at 78-5 at that point.听
The leg-spinner finished with an extraordinary figure of 3-16 from 10 overs, the second best for Bangladesh in the World Cup.听
However, Knight, who had a charmed life, stood tall as she added a match-winning 79-run partnership with Charlie Dean, where the latter contributed 27.听
Knight survived twice when the TV umpire Gayathri Venugopalan overturned a caught-behind (via player review) and a catch (umpire review) when she was on 0 and 13, respectively.听
The former England captain also had an lbw decision overturned through a successful review.听
Sanjida Akter removed Alice Capsey (20) to break the game open once more, but Bangladesh couldn鈥檛 knock off Knight.听
Earlier, Sharmin Akter, who made 30 off 52, and Sobhana made a good recovery after Bangladesh lost two wickets for 25 runs inside six overs.听
But Sharmin鈥檚 wicket put them into a shell as Bangladesh managed just 60 runs between the 16th and 41st overs.听
However, Sobhana hung in while Bangladesh kept losing wickets from the other end and reached her fifty in 92 balls. She hit eight fours before being dismissed in the 47th over.
Bangladesh started to accelerate soon after Rabeya came to the crease at nine and hit a boundary in the first ball she faced.听
Rabeya hit six fours and a six as Bangladesh scored 48 runs in the last seven overs. She hit six fours and a six and now holds the highest score for Bangladesh while coming in at number eight or lower.听
听