The Chronicle
Zimbabwe 132 for 9 (Mayers 32, Chaudhary 4-46) beat United States of America 131 (Sriharsha 22, Tshuma 3-19) by one wicket
FRANCISCA Chipare rescued a Zimbabwe side that was teetering on the brink of defeat, the No. 11 cracking three fours in a 15-ball innings to secure a nail-biting one-wicket victory.
USA could only post a total of 131, where their top-scorer was the extras with 23, but their bowlers rallied hard to make a match of it. The 31-year old seamer Moksha Chaudhary grabbed four wickets for herself as Zimbabwe slumped from 73 for 2 to 97 for 8.
But even as the game seemed lost, up stepped a most unlikely hero. The 23-year old Chipare (16*) was one of only two players in the entire game with a strike rate better than run-a-ball.
Thailand Women 132 for 2 (Tippoch 69, Chantham 37) beat Bangladesh Women 176 for 8 (Hoque 51, Khatun 46, Boochatham 5-26) by 16 runs via DLS
Sornnarin Tippoch’s 69 and 1 for 35 and Nattaya Boochatham’s 5 for 26 proved pivotal in Thailand’s historic 16-run DLS-decided Group B win over Bangladesh in the Women’s World Cup Qualifiers, their first one-day victory over a team with ODI status.
Given Thailand don’t yet hold ODI status, their victory against Bangladesh, has strengthened their chance to seal a Super Six berth in the qualifier, which would grant them the ODI cachet by virtue of gaining automatic qualification for the next cycle of the expanded, ten-team ICC Women’s Championship.
Chasing 177, Tippoch strung a 97 opening stand with Natthakan Chantham (37 off 69), hitting seven fours in her 113-ball knock. Both openers, however, fell in the space of 6.1 overs. By the time rain intervened, Thailand were 132 for 2 in 39.2 overs, 15 runs ahead of their DLS cutoff of 117.
Earlier, Thailand’s decision to bowl paid dividends as restricted Bangladesh, unbeaten in the competition until today, to 176 for 8 off 50 overs. Fargana Hoque (51), Murshida Khatun (46), Lata Mondal (29), and Rumana Ahmed (27) were the only batters to make double-digit scores.
Thailand trail first-placed Bangladesh, who have a superior net run rate, by one spot on the Group B points table, with both on four points apiece from two wins out of three games.
Ireland 199 (Delany 75, Siegers 2-24) beat Netherlands 170 (Rijke 56, Prendergast 4-24) by 29 runs
Laura Delany and Orla Prendergast were the stars of the show for Ireland as they defended a total of 199 against Netherlands in the Women’s World Cup qualifiers at Harare. Delany top-scored with 75 even as the rest of her line-up tumbled around her. The 21-year old Dutch legspinner Silver Siegers picked up 4 for 24 to set up what looked like a straightforward chase and for the longest time it was.
They were 158 for 3 in the 43rd over with victory very much in sight when Delany popped up with the run-out of Netherlands captain Heather Siegers.
That triggered a collapse – seven wickets for 12 runs, three of them to Prendergast – as the game turned completely on its head. — ESPNcricinfo