Ireland, Zimbabwe register thrilling wins; Thailand upset Bangladesh

Ireland, Zimbabwe and Thailand registered wins on the third day of the ICC Cricket World Cup Qualifier in Harare on Thursday (November 26). While Ireland came back into the game against Netherlands thanks to Orla Prendergast's spell, Zimbabwe survived a collapse to hold on to a one wicket win. Thailand were comfortably placed against Bangladesh when play was called off due to bad light and eventually declared winners by DLS Method.



Put into bat first at the Sunrise Club, Ireland once again got off to a good to start thanks to their openers Gaby Lewis and Leah Paul. Although starved off the strike in the first few overs, Lewis was her usual fluent self and got her first boundary in the fifth over. As the innings progressed Lewis took most of the strike adding four more fours by the tenth over.



Lewis hit two more boundaries and was looking good for more when she got out for 46 off 47 balls. Once she became Caroline de Lange’s first victim, Ireland suffered a collapse similar to the first match and were 85 for five at one stage with Eva Lynch striking in consecutive deliveries.



Delany and Eimear Richardson used all their experience to resurrect the Ireland innings as they doubled the score in quick time. The Irish skipper was in her elements in a fast paced knock with Richardson playing the second fiddle. Delany reached her 50 from just 47 balls and continued her way despite the loss of Richardson at the other end.



With Delany batting on 75 off 71 and the score reading 195 for 6 with more than ten overs to go, it looked like Ireland would post a competitive total. However, once Silver Siegers trapped Delany in front of the wicket at the same score, she ran through the lower order to bundle Ireland out adding just three more runs in the 42^nd over.



For Netherlands, Silver finished with figures of four for 24, while de Lange and Lynch picked up two wickets each.



In the chase, despite losing Juliet Post early for a duck to Orla Prendergast, Babette de Leede and Sterre Kalis batted solidly to keep Netherlands on track. They added 59 runs for the second wicket before Delany removed de Leede. Another 73-run stand between Kalis and Robine Rijke threatened to take the match away from Ireland.



However, once Celeste Raack struck to remove Kalis, despite the best efforts of Rijke, Netherlands innings tapered off with some excellent bowling led by Prendergast. The swing bowler accounted for wickets including that of Rijke as Ireland won by 29 runs.



For Ireland, Prendergast finished with figures of four for 24, while three others picked up one wicket apiece.



Over at the Harare Sports Club, Thailand struck two early blows with some tight bowling to restrict Bangladesh to 14 for two in 6.3 overs. From there, Murshida Khatun and Fargana Hoque added 84 runs for the third wicket.



In the 30^th over, Murshida dragged Sornnarin Tippoch onto the stumps and soon they lost Hoque for an 81-ball 51 as well. Post their dismissal, Bangladesh couldn’t push the accelerator with Rumana Ahmed and Lata Mondol struggling to find the boundaries during their 52-run partnership.



Nattaya Boochatham got both the batters stumped in the final over that saw her take three wickets as Bangladesh stuttered to 176 for eight from the stipulated 50 overs. Boochatham finished with a five-wicket haul giving away only 26 runs from her seven overs.



In reply, Tippoch and Nattakan Chantham added 97 runs for the opening to guide the chase and Thailand were batting on 132 for two in 39.2 overs when the rain came in and play was called off for bad light.



Eventually Thailand won the match according to the DLS method as they couldn’t comeback to finish the game.



Elsewhere at the Takashinga Sports Club, opting to field first Zimbabwe kept USA to paltry score with a bowling performance headlined by Loreen Tshuma. USA were bowled out for 131 in 44.5 overs.



Although USA started fairly well with the opening batters adding 38 runs in 8.5 overs, once they lost Gargi Bhogle to Precious Marange, none of the batters could stay longer at the crease and only skipper Sindhu Sriharsha (22) scored more than 20 runs. 23 extras given by the bowlers also helped USA during their innings.



For Zimbabwe, Tshuma was the best bowler with figures of three for 19 from her ten overs, while Marange finished with two wickets.



In reply, Zimbabwe got to off to a good start with Sharne Mayers and Modester Mupachikwa sharing a fifty plus opening stand. Once Geetika Kodali and Tara Norris removed them in quick succession, Zimbabwe went from 57 for no loss to 87 for seven in the 20^th over.



Moksha Chaudhary ran through the middle order getting Mary-Anne Musonda, Chiedza Dhururu and Tshuma for ducks. It looked all dead and buried for Zimbabwe when they lost Marange with them still needing 17 runs. But the last pair of Nomvelo Sibanda and Francisca Chipare pulled off a win with some boundaries and eventually finished the match in style with a four.



Brief Scores:



Ireland 199/10 in 41.5 overs (Laura Delany 75, Gaby Lewis 46; Silver Siegers 4/24) beat Netherlands 170/10 in 48 overs (Robine Rijke 56, Sterre Kalis 47; Orla Prendergast 4/24) by 29 runs



Bangladesh 176/8 in 50 overs (Fargana Hoque 51, Murishida Khatun 46; Nattaya Boochatham 5/26) lost to Thailand 139/2 in 39.2 overs (Sornnarin Tipoch 69)  by 16 runs (DLS Method)



USA 131/10 44.5 overs (Sindhu Sriharsha 22; Loreen Tshuma 3/19, Precious Marange 2/22) lost to Zimbabwe 132/9 in 33.3 overs (Sharne Mayers 32; Moksha Chaudhary 4/46) by one wicket