Nahida Akter

Pace bowler Shamilia Connell collapsed while fielding for the West Indies at the Women&#39;s Cricket World Cup in New Zealand on Friday and was taken from the ground in an ambulance. It was not immediately clear what happened to the 29-year-old but she was able to walk to the ambulance and team-mate Hayley Matthews said that &quot;we believe she&#39;ll be alright&quot;.&quot;Obviously it&#39;s a bit worrying to see her go down like that but she&#39;s a fighter,&quot; said Matthews. The incident came in the latter stages of a gutsy West Indies fightback that saw them edge Bangladesh by four runs.Matthews produced a player-of-the-match performance to bowl a career-best 4/15 and spare the West Indies&#39; blushes after Bangladesh dismissed them for 140/9 at Mount Maunganui. The win puts the West Indies ahead of hosts New Zealand, India and defending champions England in the race for a top-four semi-final berth alongside favourites Australia and South Africa.But Bangladesh threatened to blow the tournament wide open when their spinners ripped through the West Indies&#39; batting line-up. The modest target of 141 proved too much however for the tournament debutants, who fell four runs short with three balls to go in the final over.&quot;How our bowlers started was incredible but I&#39;m pretty disappointed with the batting,&quot; said captain Nigar Sultana, Bangladesh&#39;s joint top-scorer with 25 runs. &quot;We lacked partnerships and I should have played until the end.&quot;Bangladesh&#39;s spinners dismissed openers Deandra Dottin and Matthews for 17 and 18 respectively. They then tore through the middle order as the West Indies lost six wickets for 30 runs, struggling at 70-7 and looking unlikely to finish their 50 overs.Shemaine Campbelle prevented a rout, making an unbeaten 53 off 107 balls in her second half-century of the tournament to give the West Indies a potentially defendable total of 140/9. Nahida Akter and Salma Khatun had the best bowling figures for Bangladesh, both finishing on 2/23, but the entire team excelled, bringing zip and enthusiasm to the field.The West Indies made a good start with the ball, dismissing Shamima Sultana for a duck in the first over. Relentless pressure paid off as spinner Afy Fletcher took three wickets in two overs, including a pair from successive balls to have Bangladesh reeling at 60-5.Captain Sultana attempted to steady the innings but was trapped lbw on 25 by Matthews, who clean-bowled Rumana Ahmed with her next delivery. The West Indies dropped three catches as the run chase tightened, then Connell&#39;s treatment halted play in the 47th over.Bangladesh needed eight runs from the final over with no wickets in hand but West Indies captain Stafanie Taylor coaxed an inside edge off Fariha Trisna from her third delivery to finish the contest.Powered by <a href="https://www.froala.com/wysiwyg-editor?pb=1" title="Froala Editor">Froala Editor</a>

The win puts West Indies ahead of New Zealand, India and England in the race for a semi-final berth alongside Australia and South Africa

Shemaine Campbelle

Hayley Matthews

Salma Khatun

Nigar Sultana

Afy Fletcher

Stafanie Taylor

ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup, 2022

Bangladesh Women

West Indies Women

Matthews, Taylor, Fletcher star as West Indies defend 140 against Bangladesh

Bangladesh would be eager to make their maiden appearance at the World Cup a memorable one. The Qualifiers for the Women&rsquo;s World Cup 2022 had to be cancelled due to Covid and the Nigar Sultana-led side managed to secure qualification on the basis of their ICC Ranking.&nbsp;Bangladesh clearly don&rsquo;t have enough game-time in this format, considering they have only played 12 ODIs since the 2017 World Cup. Meanwhile, all other seven teams have played at least 33 ODIs in this time frame. However, they do have some quality players in their arsenal and could cause an upset or two in the forthcoming showpiece event.&quot;Playing in the Women&rsquo;s World Cup is a long-awaited dream come true for all of us. We have played three T20 World Cups but have never played an ODI one, so we are very excited and very eager to perform on the biggest stage. We want to make the most of this opportunity and make it count,&quot; said Sultana.Strengths<img src="https://images-cricketcom.imgix.net/1646211332157-articleimg" style="width: 700px; margin: 5px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib">Bangladesh&rsquo;s biggest strength is their bowling. The sample size might not be so great but Bangladesh have the best bowling average and economy rate amongst all eight participants since the last edition of the 50-over World Cup in England. In left-arm spinner Nahida Akter, offspinner Salma Khatun and legspinner Rumana Ahmed, Bangladesh have a superb spin-bowling attack, while the pace department will be taken care of by Jahanara Alam.Nahida (3), Khatun (3.8) and Rumana (4) have also been very economical in this time period and the onus will once again be on them to make sure opponents don&rsquo;t put up big totals against Bangladesh. In fact, amongst bowlers who have played at least 10 ODIs since the last World Cup, Nahida has the best economy rate and bowling average (13.2).&nbsp;Weaknesses<img src="https://images-cricketcom.imgix.net/1646211306578-articleimg" style="width: 700px; margin: 5px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib">If bowling is Bangladesh&rsquo;s biggest strength, then batting is their biggest weakness. The numbers are completely opposite as they have the worst scoring rate, average and balls/wicket amongst all eight participating countries since the last World Cup. Fargana Hoque (42.75) and Rumana (30.5) are the only Bangladeshi batters averaging more than 30 but both of them operate at a strike rate of less than 60. Bangladeshi batters will have to click as a unit and make sure they put up enough runs on the board to keep their bowlers in the game. &nbsp;&nbsp;OpportunitiesSome of the big players like Khatun, Rumana, Fargana, Nahida and Sultana will have to be at their best if Bangladesh want to compete with big nations. They haven&rsquo;t even played an ODI against some of the teams and this World Cup will give them the platform to prove their worth in the 50-over format. Even if they manage to get the better of a couple of teams, Bangladesh would be mighty pleased with their progress. &nbsp;<img src="https://images-cricketcom.imgix.net/1646211271044-articleimg" style="width: 700px; margin: 5px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib">&quot;We have never played against England, Australia or New Zealand in ODIs, so it will be a new experience. If we do well here, more teams will be interested in playing against us, more international cricket will come to the country and the Bangladesh Cricket Board will try to increase domestic matches as well,&quot; said Sultana.ThreatsAs mentioned before, Bangladesh haven&rsquo;t had enough game-time coming into this tournament and that could hurt them. Their batting is too fragile and can get exposed against all quality opponents. On top of that, they don&rsquo;t have the experience of playing ODIs at such a big stage, but have featured in four T20 World Cups and would try to bring that experience to New ZealandSquadNigar Sultana (c), Salma Khatun, Rumana Ahmed, Fargana Hoque, Jahanara Alam, Shamima Sultana, Fahima Khatun, Ritu Moni, Murshida Khatun, Nahida Akter, Sharmin Akter Supta, Lata Mondol, Sobhana Mostary, Fariha Islam Trisna, Suraiya Azmim, Shanjida Akther Maghla.FixturesMarch 5 &ndash; v South AfricaMarch 7 &ndash; v New ZealandMarch 14 &ndash; v PakistanMarch 18 &ndash; v West IndiesMarch 22 &ndash; v IndiaMarch 25 &ndash; v AustraliaMarch 27 &ndash; v EnglandPowered by <a href="https://www.froala.com/wysiwyg-editor?pb=1" title="Froala Editor">Froala Editor</a>

Here's everything you need to know about the Bangladesh squad participating in the Women's World Cup

Matthews, Taylor, Fletcher star as West Indies defend 140 against Bangladesh

ICC Women's World Cup: SWOT analysis of Bangladesh