Sri Lanka defeats Bangladesh to preserve their campaign alive

Women's Cricket World Cup, Navi Mumbai

Sri Lanka 202 (48.4 overs): Perera 85 (99); Shorna 3-27

The Bangladeshi team 195-9 (50 overs): Joty 77 (98); Chamari Athapaththu 4-42

Sri Lanka win by seven runs margin

Sri Lanka took four wickets in the final over to seal a nail-biting victory over Bangladesh and keep their slim chances of making it for the World Cup semi-finals ongoing.

Needing a modest target of 203 on a favorable wicket in the Mumbai stadium, Bangladesh required nine runs from the remaining six deliveries.

Yet, Sri Lanka captain Chamari Athapaththu claimed three wickets in four balls and de Silva ran out Nahida Akter to achieve a thrilling success for Sri Lanka.

The victory – Sri Lanka's first of the competition after three unsuccessful matches and two no-results against Australia and New Zealand – pushes them tied on four match points with the Indian team and the New Zealand side, who confront each other on the coming Thursday.

Bangladesh, on the other hand, endured a fifth straight defeat since winning their tournament opener against the Pakistani team and have been knocked out.

Although the Bangladeshi side made the ideal beginning, with Marufa taking a wicket with the opening bowl of the encounter to dismiss Gunaratne, they were deservedly punished for a disappointing fielding performance.

They gifted lifelines to Perera, who was spilled multiple times, and the Lankan captain.

Although Athapaththu was unable to take advantage, sent back lbw for 46 a single bowl after being put down by Rabeya Khan, Perera made Bangladesh suffer.

She scored a maiden international fifty, making 85 from 99 balls and sharing an significant 74-run stand fifth-wicket collaboration with De Silva.

Bangladesh, spearheaded by Shorna Akter's 3-27, fought themselves back into the match, with Nilakshi's removal in the 34th innings segment causing a Sri Lanka batting collapse from 174-4 to 202 complete.

While batting second, the Lankan team's starting bowlers Malki Madara and Udeshika Prabodhani restricted the opposition to 23-1 in a disappointing initial phase and they were subsequently brought down to 44 with three wickets lost.

Sharmin Akter and Joty restored their score, adding an 82-run partnership for the fourth wicket before Sharmin withdrew due to injury for a stubborn 64 in the 36th over.

It was leaning toward the chasing team entering the remaining two innings segments, with only 12 additional runs needed.

Yet, Dasanayaka dismissed Ritu and conceded merely three runs before Athapaththu's decisive intervention, with Rabeya, Nahida Akter, skipper Joty and Marufa Akter all sent back as Sri Lanka seized the victory at the death.

In the end, it was a game of composure. The very experienced Athapaththu, who directed away a several of fellow players as she set herself to deliver the decisive over, held her composure. Bangladesh failed to.

There will be numerous doubts about Bangladesh's batting display. They might well have been chasing around 270-280 with Sri Lanka seeming at ease on 159-4 in the 30th innings segment, but rather the target was significantly less.

Yet, the batting side displayed insufficient aggression from the start, accumulating runs at below 2.5 runs per over during the powerplay, undergoing a top-order collapse, and ultimately leaving themselves too much to achieve.

But whatever problems there are with their batting approach, if they had accepted their opportunities in the fielding department, that 203-run goal would have been considerably less.

It took them three attempts to break the 72-run stand second-wicket collaboration, with wicketkeeper Nigar Sultana not managing to grab a difficult opportunity as wicketkeeper to dismiss Perera on her score of 23 before the captain survived from a return catch possibility against Rabeya.

Perera was spilled further on her score of 55 and 63 runs, the last attempt flying straight to Jhilik at cover field, before eventually being given out lbw by Shorna Akter as she tried to accelerate the scoring with batting partners getting out beside her.

Afterwards in the innings, there was also a failed stumping and a run-out opportunity lost, although the latter was a little regrettable, with Jhilik substituting with the keeping duties following an physical problem to the regular keeper.

Sadly for Bangladesh, such fielding issues are not at all a one-off. They've failed to catch 14 opportunities from a possible 27 chances at this competition and display the lowest catching success rate (less than 50%) of the participating teams.

They are a team who are generally moving in the right direction – they are playing in merely their second one-day World Cup ultimately – but poor fielding standards is a glaring issue which requires attention.