South Africa, West Indies seal qualification

South Africa Women have qualified for the Women's World Cup after thrashing Zimbabwe Women in Fatullah and reaching the semi-finals of the qualifiers. It was a mismatch with South Africa having won all their games before the encounter and Zimbabwe having lost their three games. Zimbabwe managed to bat their 50 overs after being put in but only reached 103, which South Africa chased in just 12 overs without losing a wicket. Only four of Zimbabwe's batsmen reached double figures in their crawl of an innings and offspinner Sunette Loubser took 5 for 9. Shandre Fritz raced to 69 off 45 balls to take South Africa to a thumping win.

Joining them in the 2013 World Cup in India will be West Indies Women who cemented their place in the semi-finals with an 80-run win against Bangladesh Women in Mirpur. Stafanie Taylor's tremendous run continued as she hit her third consecutive score of over fifty. Shanel Daley also got a half-century as West Indies reached 217 for 8 after being put in. Daley and Taylor had built the innings carefully and Stacy-Ann King gave it momentum, hitting three sixes in her 24 off 18 balls. Bangladesh's innings never got going and though they had lost only two wickets by the 26th over they had crawled to 67. The run-rate was slow throughout and Bangladesh were bowled out for 137 in 47.4 overs. Bangladesh though still have a chance to qualify for the semi-finals since they finished third in Group B and will meet the second-placed team from Group A in a play-off.

Bangladesh lost to Sri Lanka in two games before the qualifiers began and their coach Mamatha Maben recognised it would be a tough game but said she hoped her side had improved enough to win. "We've not performed to our full potential in previous matches against Sri Lanka but we are getting closer each time we play them and hopefully Tuesday's game will be the game we finally beat them," she said.

"I have always said as a side we're a good bowling and fielding team who is learning, but we are lacking in the batting department. That lacking was seen today against West Indies who proved to be a tough opposition and showed our batters what they need to be doing.

That team is Sri Lanka Women, who romped to an eight-wicket victory against United States of America Women in Savar. USA chose to bat but only one of their batsmen reached double figures as they slumped to 53 all out. Remarkably, USA played 49.4 overs to reach that low total. Shashikala Siriwardene took 3 for 9 in her 10 overs. Sri Lanka have made a habit of losing wickets in easy chases and did so again, stumbling to 15 for 2. The outcome was never in doubt though and Prasadani Weerakkody scored 22 not out as Sri Lanka got home in the 19th over.

Nida Dar scored 124 off 139 balls as Pakistan Women thrashed Japan Women in Savar. Pakistan got 272 after electing to bat and Japan were then skittled for 26 in 28 overs. Japan have not scored more than 71 all tournament but this was their lowest total. Six batsmen got ducks, only one reached double figures and left-arm spinner Sadia Yousuf took 6 for 2 in Japan's capitulation. Pakistan's total was always going to be out of reach but Japan may have hoped to put up a better fight.