
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Spinners Ecclestone, Dean, Knight shared seven wickets between them
England Women 234 for 6 (Dunkley 67, Sciver 40, Jones 31, Khatun 2-46) beat Bangladesh Women 134 all out (Mondal 30, Ecclestone 3-15, Dean 3-30) by 100 runs
At 112 for 4 with 20 overs to go, England required a steady hand from both Jones and Dunkley, who were on 11 and 10 from 16 balls each at the time. To a great measure, they played their part to perfection, putting on 72 for the fifth wicket.
Dunkley and Jones carted Alam for 12 in the 41st over upon her return for a second spell. Nigar dropped Jones on 30 off Akter soon after but the England No. 5 could add only one more run to her name before driving an easy catch to Salma at extra cover. With Lata Mondal providing the breakthrough, England slumped to 178 for 5.
Dunkley took calculated risks with her power-packed aerial strokes to complement her strike rotation with a gallery of easy-on-the-eye shots along the ground. She struck her fifth four before nudging Akter into the off side to reach her maiden World Cup fifty.
Brunt’s arrival at the crease injected urgency in England’s run-scoring. She ran hard for her two threes in the 14-run 46th over by Akter. England’s fastest block of 50 runs in the game came off 44 balls, taking them to 200. Dunkley’s stumping off Salma, however, somewhat pegged England in their bid to find a flourish in the closing overs.
The tally of 79 in the final 10 overs could have been much higher had Dunkley been in the middle longer. But the final-ball six – the first of the match – from Ecclestone ensured England took the momentum into their dressing room and firmly plonked a foot on the door leading to the knockouts.
The chase, as expected, suffered from the want of firepower in Bangladesh’s batting ranks. They started off slow, but denied England, who missed a run-out opportunity against Shamima Sultana thanks to a poor throw from Dunkley first ball, any inroads in the 24-run powerplay.
The report was updated following South Africa’s win over India.
Annesha Ghosh is a sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo. @ghosh_annesha
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