BANGLADESH hold their nerve to beat NETHERLANDS

ICC 10th WOMEN's WORLD CUP - Match 5 – Bangladesh vs Netherlands at Birmingham on 14th June 2026. 

Result - Bangladesh beat Netherlands by 6 wickets

Points - Bangladesh 2(2), Netherlands 0(0)

Toss - Netherlands

Umpires – V Gayathri, Sue Redfern, Kim Cotton (TV)

Player of the Match – Juariya Ferdous

Match Centre Link - You can view the scorecard, watch highlights and engage more at Match Centre of ICC. The match can be accessed here. 

NETHERLANDS INNINGS

POWER PLAY – NEITHER WAY
The 5^th match of the 10th Womens T20 World Cup featured World Cup debutants Netherlands and a rising team with good potential, Bangladesh. While Netherlands were looking to win on debut, Bangladesh were looking to register a World Cup win after 12 years. Netherlands won the toss and chose to bat. Heather Siegers and Phebe Molkenboer made history as the first batters for Netherlands in the World Cup while Faiha Trishna had the new ball for Bangladesh. The very first ball was swung by Heather Streak over cover & three fielders chased hard to save a boundary. The 4^th ball bowled by Fariha was a lovely inswing that missed the stumps. After the 4 run first over, Phebe switched gears clipping & driving the first 2 balls of the talented Marufa Akter for boundaries. Marufa struck back in the 4^th ball deceiving Phebe in swing & skipper Nigar Sultana did the rest behind the stumps. Skipper Babette De Leede was welcomed by two lovely swings by Marufa which resulted in dot balls. Sanjida Akter came in to bowl the 3^rd over and it was Heather’s chance to hit a couple of boundaries on the off side. Marufa came back stronger in the 4^th over to concede just 3 runs. Fariha Trishna came back for the 5^th over and her 5^th ball was unlucky for Bangladesh. Babette stuck the ball straight to mid on and Shorna had a chance at direct hit. However it missed & went for 4 overthrows. Lady luck smiled back at Bangladesh the very next ball where Farhana drew a sharp edge from Heather & skipper Nigar pouched it sharply. Sterre Kalis joined her skipper and Sanjida’s 6^th over gave just 4 runs. At completion of power play, NET were 40/2 and neither side were at advantage or at disadvantage.

MIDDLE OVERS – ADVANTAGE BABETTE AND BANGLADESH
Fariha Trishna continued and despite a couple of wides in succession, the 7^th over yielded just 7 runs for NET. The young Rabeya Khan came in next & bowled a ripper to remove the stumps of Sterre and claim her 50^th T20I wicket. In an otherwise quiet over, Babette stepped down to clear mid on and bring a boundary in the 5^th ball. Ritu Moni came in and spun out a quick over giving away just 4 runs. Rabeya once again bowled a good over till Robine Rijke dispatched a length ball comfortably over mid on for a boundary. NET were 65/3 at half way mark and needed to up the ante. However it was business as usual for Ritu as she completed another 4 run over. Marufa was brought in to get some wickets and she did just that. In the 2^nd ball, she forced Robine to top edge a delivery with pace and ran to gully, avoided a 3 way collision and held on to the catch. Captain Babette salvaged 4 runs for NET with a paddle shot in the last ball of the over. Ritu struck in the first ball of 13^th over as Sanya Khurana gave an easy catch to mid on which Dilara took after a juggle. Frederique Overdijk was lucky to have an edge that sped past the keeper for a boundary in the same over. Sanjida came in & Babette exhibited two brilliant and almost similar cover drives on the full in the 2^nd & 3^rd ball and both went for boundaries. Sanjida had Babette given leg before the next ball before DRS ruled it pitching outside off in favour of Babette. Babette got a boundary of 16^th over bowled by Fariha and was lucky with 5 wides and an  overthrow. However luck refused to smile when the batters got into a horrible mix up mid pitch and Shorna got the direct hit this time. Netherlands were 113/6 after 16 and needed quick runs at death. While Babette looked in good nick at 49, Bangladesh bowlers hadn’t given much.

 DEATH OVERS – REAR GUARD ACTION
Ritu came in to bowl her final over in 17^th. Babette was unfortunate to get run out in chase of a second run in the ball she scored 50. Ritu once again gave just 3 runs & completed 4 overs for 17. Caroline De Lange and Iris Zwilling were the new batters at the crease. Sanjida skid one through Caroline’s defence to claim her wicket in the first ball of 18^th over. When it seemed that BAN would bowl out NET, Iris and Silver Siegers provided perfect rear guard and demonstrated good game awareness for the next 17 balls. They kept finding singles of spinners Sanjida & Rabeya and used the pace of Marufa in the last over to find a couple of boundaries. When Silver took a bye of the last ball, NET did well to finish at 139/8 and the 9^th wicket pair added 23 valuable runs in 17 balls without giving a wicket. It was also poetic that Netherlands innings started with Heather Siegers facing the first ball and her sister Silver Siegers facing the last ball.

BANGLADESH INNINGS

POWER PLAY – FORTUNE AND FOURS FOR JUAIRIYA
Iris Zwilling bowled the first over for Netherlands and had the openers Dilara Akter and Juairiya Ferdous quite shaken. A 3 run over with 4 dots & an edge was a good start for Netherlands. Heather Siegers came in for the 2^nd over and offered width that Juairiya didn’t cur convincingly but it fetched BAN their first boundary. After 3 dot balls in succession, a frustrated Juairiya slog swept and Sterre came in from deep midwicket to take a good catch. NET were already celebrating & Juairiya started walking before the umpires wanted to have a look at the catch again. The third umpire decided that the ball scratched ground before catch & gave BAN & Juairiya a lifeline. Juairiya wasn’t going to let that loose and found a couple of boundaries or Iris in the 3^rd over trying to clear the inner circle. Robine came in to bowl the 4th over and spilled a tough return catch in the 3rd ball. After that drop catch, Juairiya became more determined and found a couple of boundaries swinging one over mid on and finding an uppish edge over short third. Silver Siegers came in for the 5^th over. She bowled one short to Dilhara who gleefully hoisted it over cover for her first boundary. Dilhara nearly had a boundary the next ball with a late cut. But a great fielding effort saw the batters run 3. Juairiya survived another edge in the next ball but it still fetched BAN 2 runs. Sister Heather replaced Silver and gave 7 including a boundary as BAN finished at a strong 47/0 with Juairiya riding her luck to 33 of 25

MIDDLE OVERS – GOING DUTCH
Isabel Van Der Woning came in to bowl the 7^th over and NET needed more than Van der waals force to break into the game. Juairiya missed a couple of swings after Dilara took a single of the 1^st ball. But Juairiya swung successfully in the 4^th & 5^th balls to find a six and  boundary. Caroline De Lange (a leg spinner, a doctor by profession and possessing a bowling action like Paul Adams) came in to bowl the 9^th over. She conceded 3 singles before tossing one up to Juairiya who deposited it just over long on for a six and her 50. She cut the next ball straight to Phebe at point and NET finally had their first wicket. Skipper Nigar Sultana walked in and was deceived in her very first ball which dipped in to beat her off stump. NET believed they achieved a team hatrick when Dilara was given caught behind in the first ball of Heather’s next over. However DRS ruled out the possibility of an edge as Dilara Akter and Sobhana Mostary ran 7 runs of the over. All eyes were on Caroline’s hatrick ball but Dilara negotiated it to cover for a single. The over saw 5 singles and BAN were 77/2 at half way mark. They needed 63 more and importantly a partnership. Silver continued the silver lining for Netherlands when she bowled a lovely leg break to pierce through Dilara’s stumps in the 2^nd ball of the 11^th over. When Frederique had Sobana run out in the last ball of the 12^th over, BAN suddenly looked in trouble at 85/4 in 12. In Shorna Akter and Sharmin Akter, BAN had exuberance and experience but they needed to see through a determined Dutch bowling attack. Isabel gifted a free hit which Sharmin capitalized for 4 in the 13^th over. Caroline gave just 7 runs in the 14^th over while Frederique gave 8 (including a boundary) in the 15^th over. Caroline finished her quota and the 16^th over by giving just 6 runs. Sharmin and Shorna didn’t gift wickets and momentum and just kept scoring. The middle overs first went the Dutch way before the Akthers batted to split the honours (going dutch) between the two sides. BAN needed 25 from last 24 balls and more importantly a cool head.

DEATH OVERS – AKTERS IN ACTION
Silver came in to bowl the 17^th & gave just 2 in 4 balls before Sharmin released the pressure by cutting her for a boundary in the 5^th ball. Iris didn’t give anything away in the 18^th over but Sharmin & Shorna ran well and hard to score 7 converting 2 singles into twos. With the last 2 overs, the equation was run a ball for BAN with NET giving very little away. Heather began with a wide and Sharmin hoisted the 2^nd ball over cover for a much needed boundary. A couple of dot balls were balanced by a couple of well run twos. The equation was simple with just 3 from the last 6 balls for BAN. Shorna struck Iris’s first ball over mid off for a boundary to fetch BAN their win & highest chase. The crowd (which included the Indian and Pakistan teams in the later stages) were appreciative of the competitive chase. The cool and calculative 56 run partnership of 45 balls by Shamina and Shorna ensured BAN get a WC win after 12 years.

Images Courtesy – ESPN Cricinfo.