It was never expected to be a close one. Australia versus Bangladesh features one of the greatest disparities of resources in women’s international cricket. Still, having hosted Australia for a full series as recently as 2024, and with the recent fast starts of opening bat Juairiya Ferdous, and the intensity of opening pace bowler Marufa Akter, and the developing batting of Shorna Akter and Sharmin Akhter Supta, and the full suite of spin variety under the spiky leadership of Nigar Sultana Joty, there was reason to hope that Bangladesh might continue their development with a competitive performance.
Nothing of the sort, unfortunately, eventuated at the T20 World Cup in Leeds, as Australia notched a win in the north that supercharged their net run rate. Joty won the toss and batted, saying that she wanted to back her top order to be aggressive, only for the Powerplay to go diametrically in the other direction. A cautious opening over facing Megan Schutt, the swing bowler back in the side after Ash Gardner’s rolled ankle created space for the batting order to be shuffled up, was followed by Dilara Akter’s angled hoick across a straight ball from seamer Kim Garth that took off-stump.
