Bangladesh hold nerve in a low-scorer

Bangladesh Women 78 for 8 (Mondal 31, Loubser 3-32) beat South Africa Women 75 (Kubra 3-8, Ahmed 3-10) by two wickets
Scorecard

Bangladesh Women held their nerves in a low-scoring contest against South Africa Women to win the first ODI by two wickets at the Sher-e-Bangla Stadium. South Africa, who chose to bat, lost their top-three batsmen with only five runs on the board. Captain Mignon du Preez, 24 off 35, led a mini recovery as she added 37 runs for the fourth wicket along with Marizanne Kapp. However, the introduction of spinners blew the visitors aways as they lost their last seven wickets for only 33 runs. The damage was done by offspinner Khadija Tul Kubra, who returned with economical figures of 8-3-8-3, in partnership with Rumana Ahmed, who took three wickets.

However, Bangladesh made heavy weather of a small target as their batting followed a similar pattern to South Africa's. Whereas South Africa had struggled against spin, Bangladesh were cornered by the seamers. Opening bowlers Shabnim Ismail and Kapp ended up with combined figures of 20-8-21-4 and had it not been for a patient knock by Lata Mondal (31 off 54) and a late retort by Ritu Moni (12*), the match could have had a different result.