Photo Credit: ICC
While rain delayed the start of Australia’s final group game against Bangladesh, it was the wind in Wellington that caused havoc.
As Bangladesh blew through Australia’s top order, both sides had to encounter a new opponent aside from each other.
The two teams had never met before in an ODI and they are unlikely to have encountered similar conditions previously either.
Australia may have come out on top to complete their clean sweep of the group stages at the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup 2022, but at no point did they have it all their own way.
Play got underway two hours later than planned as the rain that had washed out yesterday’s game between South Africa and the West Indies continued into the morning.
But unlike yesterday, the rain relented, and a game was able to be played, even if high winds sometimes made things tricky.
Hats from the heads of the Australian fielders routinely went flying while the bails were taken off in the 11th over of Bangladesh’s innings as strong gusts continued to cause problems.
For Bangladesh captain Nigar Sultana it was very much a new weather phenomenon on the cricket pitch.
She said: “It was difficult because it was the first time we have played in these kinds of conditions and it was too cold and windy.
“In Bangladesh, we feel the cold, but we don’t have the wind. But still, we have to play as we are a professional team.
“In the first innings it was very difficult for the batters to stand on the wicket, because it was too windy and for the bowlers, the seamers faced some difficulties to bowl, but we managed and finished the game.”
Medium-pacer Jahanara Alam pulled out of her run-up on numerous occasions as she struggled to deal with the wind knocking her off course, but it allowed Bangladesh’s spinners to shine.
Salma Khatun took the first three Australia wickets to reduce the No.1-ranked side to three for 26 in pursuit of 136, with birthday girl Meg Lanning clean-bowled for an eight-ball duck to begin her 30s in underwhelming fashion.
Then Rumana Ahmed became the first Bangladeshi woman to take 50 wickets in ODIs.
For Lanning – who recorded just a fourth duck in her 98th ODI, 50 more than Bangladesh have played as a nation – the strong winds were also a new experience.
She said: “Certainly the conditions were the hardest I have played in, it was freezing cold. Today was about finding a way through it and winning. Bangladesh played really well and put us under pressure.”
Against South Africa, Lanning had been pleased to see her teammates smiling and joking in the dugout, but today they wore much sterner expressions.
Mainly because Bangladesh had put Australia under pressure but also because their faces were often obscured by hats, hoods and towels, as the Australian players did anything to keep warm.
England will be the next to take on the wind as they face Bangladesh at Basin Reserve on Sunday, with a win likely to be enough for Heather Knight’s defending champions to complete a path to the semi-finals that has been anything but breezy having lost their first three games.
