South Africa emerging outclass Bangladesh despite Shathi’s fighting 78

Bangladesh women’s Emerging team’s disappointing tour of South Africa continued as they suffered an emphatic eight-wicket defeat to their South African counterparts in the opening T20 of the three-match series at Pietermaritzburg Oval on Thursday.

Opting to bat first, Bangladesh posted a competitive 152 for six from their 20 overs after recovering from an early collapse.

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The visitors were reeling at 18 for three inside four overs before Shathi Rani and Misty Rany Saha revived the innings with a 115-run partnership off 87 balls.

Shathi top-scored with a fluent 78 off 56 deliveries, striking 13 fours, while Misty contributed 36 off 39 balls. Although both batters fell late in the innings, their stand helped Bangladesh cross the 150-run mark.

South Africa made light work of the chase despite losing opener Yasmeen Khan for one in the second over, trapped lbw by left-arm spinner Fatema Jahan.

Alex Candler and Faye Tunnicliffe then took complete control, putting together a match-winning 146-run partnership for the second wicket off just 100 balls.

Tunnicliffe smashed 82 off 49 balls before being dismissed by Habiba Islam Pinky, while Candler remained unbeaten on 65 from 53 deliveries as South Africa reached 153 for two in 18.1 overs to take a 1-0 lead in the series.

The remaining two matches will be played at Chatsworth Oval in Durban on August 9 and 11.

Bangladesh had earlier lost the preceding three-match one-day series 2-0 to the same opponents.