Venue : Manuka Oval, Canberra
Toss : Thailand Women won the toss and opt to bowl
Squad
England Women (Playing XI): Amy Ellen Jones(w), Danielle Wyatt, Natalie Sciver, Heather Knight(c), Fran Wilson, Katherine Brunt, Tammy Beaumont, Lauren Winfield, Sophie Ecclestone, Anya Shrubsole, Sarah Glenn.
Thailand Women (Playing XI): Nattakan Chantam, Nattaya Boochatham, Nannapat Koncharoenkai(w), Naruemol Chaiwai, Chanida Sutthiruang, Sornnarin Tippoch(c), Onnicha Kamchomphu, Wongpaka Liengprasert, Ratanaporn Padunglerd, Suleeporn Laomi, Soraya Lateh.
England’s Struggled at first
Jones and Wyatt are at the crease, Jones is on strike. Boochatham opens the attack for Thailand. Superb start for Thai girls as Boochatham dismissed Jones in the second ball of the match for duck. England fans shocked when Wyatt too return pavilion for duck in the very next over from Lateh. England lost two wickets for just seven runs.
Tremendous recovery by England Women
England’s captain Heather Knight gets into crease and pair with Sciver to save England by adding some runs. This duo starts to strike aggressively and Thailand seems to struggle to pick a wicket to break this partnership. At the end of power play England scored 45 runs for two wicket loss. Where Knight scored 14 runs off 12 balls and Sciver scored 24 runs off 22 balls.
Knight and Sciver -Thailand’s nightmare
This duo starts to hit at-least couple of boundaries in each over from Thailand. At the end of 10 overs England scored 74 runs for same two wicket loss. Though England lose wickets at an early stage Sciver and Knight manage to stand strong in field. In the 12th over from Padunglerd, Knight hit a massive six and with a single in the next ball registered her half century from 38 balls.
Thailand bowled in every possible ways in seek of a wicket to break this long standing partnership but every idea seems failure. Sciver raise her fifty in Sutthiruang’s over. Thailand seems stunned as the duo have half century for each and still continuous to strike aggressively. England crossed 150 runs in total by having 17 runs in the 17th over with a couple of boundary and a six.
Knight’s maiden century
Not only team score, their partnership crossed 150 plus when Knight stand tall with 95 runs not out and looks for a ton. And reached the ton in the last over which is a maiden century for Knight in this format. With a six in the last over from Knight England reached 176 runs for just two wicket loss.
Heather Knight scores the FIRST century of the 2020 #T20WorldCup 👏
Maiden T20I 💯 for the England skipper. It couldn’t have come at a better time!#ENGvTHA 📝 https://t.co/liSeXzBeRp pic.twitter.com/huxwsDxxMR
— ICC (@ICC) February 26, 2020
Over view
A tremendous recovery by England Women, given the fact the openers failed to trouble the scorers. Thailand Women had a brilliant start to the match, but they would have hardly anticipated what followed next. Knight and Sciver came together and kept pummeling the bowlers to all parts of the park for the rest of the innings. Knight also notched up her maiden T20I century in the process as the pair added 169 runs for the third wicket. Thailand Women have a mountain to climb, so England will be looking forward to bag a big win under their belt.
Daunting score to chase
Thailand with daunting score of 176 to chase down get into crease. With a lot to achieve Chantam and Boochatham get down to the crease, Chantam is on strike. Shrubsole will open the attack for England. In the first over from Shrubsole, Thailand’s Boochatham return for a golden duck. Thailand’s captain Koncharoenkai joins hand with Chantam and in a pressure to provide a strong base for the Thailand.
This duo managed to stand but unable to score much in the power play. After 6 overs Thailand scored 27 runs for a wicket loss and in need to have a massive performance in order to register their maiden victory. But England bowlers showed up with their bowling performance and restrict Thailand from scoring.
Thailand struggled to score
England bowling stand tall which allowed Thailand to score only 37 runs in first 10 overs of the match. With a lot to score, Thailand seems speechless and starts loosing their confidence. When Chantam return pavilion for 32 runs added strength to England. In the very next over from Sciver Thailand lose 2 wickets including their skipper.
Massive bowling performance from England
Thailand collapsed as they lose three wickets for four runs in 13th over. Thailand had no options to face England’s bowling and start to lose wicket in a regular interval. Anya Shrubsole’s three wicket and Natalie Sciver’s two wicket helps England to foldup Thailand with a huge difference. Finally England women won by 98 runs and registered their maiden win in the Women’s T20I World cup 2020.
Player of the Match
Heather Knight(England)
Batting : 108 from 66 balls(13×4,4×6)
Heather Knight : It was very important for us to give a performance like this, I thought we batted brilliantly. We needed to stay calm, keep building the score, not panic and put on a partnership to get a score. It was a good pitch, slightly patchy, but was a good batting strip.
Captain’s view
Heather Knight | England captain: The partnership was the key I think. I caught up and hogged the strike a little bit, and I think that helped us come back into the game.
Sornnarin Tippoch | Thailand captain: It’s a challenging game for us, wasn’t under real pressure but we tried to do our best on the field. We are always trying to improve, and trying to work harder on our batting game, particularly the aggressive brand of cricket required in T20 format.
