Emboldened by their famous victory against Pakistan, Bangladesh Women’s team now targets to keep up their winning spree as they take on West Indies in their fourth ICC Women’s World Cup match today at Mount Maungunai, New Zealand.
The match starts at 4 am as per Bangladesh Standard Time. Mount Maungunai is the place where Bangladesh’s Men’s team beat New Zealand in a Test for the first time to break their 33-match winless streak across three formats on New Zealand soil.
So the place will give them another source of confidence to clinch another epic victory. Bangladesh were defeated by South Africa by 32 runs in the first match and then lost to hosts New Zealand in rain-hit match by 9 wickets. However, they bounced back magnificently to secure their first ever World Cup win, beating Pakistan by 9 runs.
The West Indies were unbeaten in the first two matches of the ODI World Cup. They beat hosts New Zealand and defending champions England. But the Caribbean side has lost to India and Australia in the last two matches. In the mission to get out of the losing circle, they will play the fifth match against Bangladesh, who are now over the moon after beating Pakistan. But Bangladesh are keeping their feet on the ground.
Bangladesh captain Nigar Sultana said they are now mentally prepared to take on West Indies with positive mindset.
“At first I think that no opponent is difficult, nor is it easy. If we take the opponent as a tougher side, we have to face difficulties. So we are thinking about our strength, we are thinking to play well against them. I am thinking about what plan can be used to resist them. And the win against Pakistan has given us a good momentum which will encourage us to play better in the game against West Indies,” Nigar Sultana said.
Bangladesh played their first two matches in Dunedin, and then they played against Pakistan in Hamilton. This time their new test is awaiting at the new venue.
The spinners had god some advantage in the previous match. She hopes that the pacers will do well with the spinners in this match as well.
“But I would say our pace bowling attack is also good. Our pacers did well in first and second matches. All in all, I want the full bowling unit to be strong and the spinners to repeat their last match performance,” she remarked.
Nigar Sultana however said that they will decide on whether they will break the winning combination after watching the wicket.
“So far all of the wickets here are sporting. I think this wicket might get slow at towards the end of the second innings. We will decide on our combination after seeing the wicket,” she added.
