Match Preview: West Indies vs Bangladesh - Match 3

Match Preview: West Indies  vs Bangladesh - Match 3

Date: November 9, 2018

Venue: Guyana National Stadium, Providence, Guyana

The third match of the highly anticipated Women's World Twenty-20 sees the hosts and the defending champions, West Indies, kick-start their campaign in the tournament as they aim for title-defense. Their first opponent will be the Asia Cup and the ICC World T20 Qualifiers Champions, Bangladesh. While West Indies come into the tournament having drawn a series against South Africa, Bangladesh enter on the back of a whitewash, at the hands of Pakistan. Nevertheless, they are a strong team, capable of pulling off massive upsets. The fact that they triumphed over India twice in the Asia Cup is proof enough. Will the hosts begin their title-defense with a bang or, will the Asia Cup champions come away with the win?

Players to Watch Out for:

Anisa Mohammed (West Indies)

Role: Off-spinner

T20I's: 98

Bowling Stats: Wickets- 113; Economy- 5.50; Average- 16.40; Best- 5/10

Mohammed is a highly experienced player for the West Indies and is also the leading wicket-taker in the shortest format; both in the men's and women's game. Her experience, combined with her canny bowling will be very useful for her side. She bowls economically and takes wickets at the most crucial intervals to completely turn the game and with the pitch in Guyana favouring spin, she will be the player to watch out for because she can wreak havoc for her opponents.

Khadija tul Kubra (Bangladesh)

Role: Off-spinner

T20I's: 36

Bowling Stats: Wickets- 33; Economy- 5.28; Average- 18.48; Best- 3/5

Also an off-spinner, Kubra will play a role similar to Mohamed's for her side. Her team will need her to exploit the spin friendly conditions to make early breakthroughs and put their opponents on the back foot. In the T20 format, limiting runs is a big concern as well. Kubra's miserliness in that aspect will greatly her Bangladesh, too.

 

Conditions:

Guyana offers spin friendly conditions so, the pitch will be a slow one. Both teams will have plenty of time to assess them and see how they play because theirs' will be the third match of the day to take place there.

 

Who said what:

"There's a bit of pressure. There's a bit of expectation. I think it's just how we manage that. And I'm trying to manage that within the group and just think about our game and how we want to play, and just go out there and play our style of cricket," said Stafanie Taylor whether being defending champions is an added pressure or not.

"I think that the team that has the courage to play well against any team. I do accept the fact that some teams are better. On a given day, even team like Bangladesh can create some disturbances to any the team," confident captain Salma Khatun told.

 

Probable XI

West Indies: Hayley Matthews, Deandra Dottin, Stafanie Taylor (C), Shemaine Campbelle, Natasha McLean, Kycia Knight, Merissa Aguilleira (wk), Anisa Mohammed, Afy Fletcher, Brittany Cooper, Shamilia Connell

Bangladesh: Shamima Sultana (wk), Ayesha Rahman, Jahanara Alam, Fargana Hoque, Nigar Sultana, Rumana Ahmed, Sanjida Islam, Lata Mondal, Fatima Khatun, Salma Khatun (C)