Bangladesh women beat Ireland by 7 runs and Bangladesh men beat UAE by 7 runs in a rare coincidence, but it meant two very different reactions. The women’s team took the WC Qualifiers trophy three times in a row with yesterday’s victory, though Ireland fought hard.
Bangladesh men also played a practice match against a lowly rated UAE and had a close win, but it was embarrassing to watch. One team is going up while the other is in decline.
The Women
Bangladesh and Ireland Women, the two finalists, had already reached the World Cup stage, so the stake was low. However, it showed some interesting features.
The BD Women’s team is strong, but it still lacks the killer blow delivery capacity that a team needs to win on the global stage. Bangladesh did win the Asia Cup, beating India, but India has gone ahead and beat England last week. The West Indies men’s team is not particularly strong, but their women’s team—previous cup winners—is. So Bangladesh had better watch out about the possibility of bad days on the big stage.
Both India and Pakistan have also improved, and India’s 3-0 win against England last week is a reminder that while we did beat them, it’s not the same team anymore. And SA and others have better records than us.
One reason why the women’s team is not pushing up as much as it could be is a lack of sponsorship and investment. Globally, women’s cricket has yet to catch on, so ICC dole money is low for the qualifying countries. The media has only recently begun to get interested, and so promoting it as a money-making sport is important. This is already happening, but not enough. But betting sites are already active, which means more crowds and that will hopefully translate into funds for Women cricket.
Source: United News of Bangladesh