Kirstie Gordon stars with ball as England shake off rust with seven-wicket win
Three wickets on England debut helps restrict Bangladesh to 77, as batsmen overcome wobble to launch campaign
Three wickets on England debut helps restrict Bangladesh to 77, as batsmen overcome wobble to launch campaign
Scorer: Chandan Duorah | Commentator: Alan Gardner
7.25pm: Right, that's a wrap from St Lucia's first bit of action in this WWT20. Miller has whipped up a report on the proceedings, and it's just about time to pass you over to Varun Shetty, the cool operator in charge of South Africa v Sri Lanka comms. Go and keep him company, why not? The tournament rolls on, and Group A is a going concern. Watch this, indeed. Cheerio!
7.15pm: Time to hear from the captains, too, starting with Bangladesh's Salma Khatun: "We got more runs [than against West Indies], Ayasha got some runs but the other batsmen didn't. The team's bowling is really good, me, Rumana and Jahanara, but our batting needs to improve. We'll speak before the next game, against Sri Lanka, and focus on the batting."
England captain Heather Knight: "Curators done an amazing job, tricky conditions but delighted to get a game. [Home crowd?] I think it's a record for the most supporters coming out to follow us, and we really appreciate it, good to hear them in full force. We thought its would swing, that's why Anya and Nat took the new ball, they set the tone and then spin took pace off the ball, delighted to keep them to that and chase it down. Delighted to have some cricket, the atmosphere on the bus showed on the way here, the energy the girls showed was great. We wanted to win it as quickly as we could, in T20 you lose wickets often, but we want the openers to play aggressively, the main thing was getting over the line and getting the points."
7.10pm: No mucking about from the England captain, three balls required to knock off the runs and wrap up the game - a third win from three encounters, all at WWT20s, against Bangladesh. The bowlers did the business up front, and then despite losing a wicket from the first ball of their reply, England's batters achieved the target pretty comfortably.
Speaking of the bowlers, debutant spinner Kirstie Gordon is named Player of the Match: "Had a little bit of nerves before the game but it was coming out all right. Having a few debutants, that settled the nerves and made ti a lot easier. Good decision to put them in, get out on the field and we took some good early wickets."
Okay, here come the players once again... Knight is on strike, still only having faced six balls in the tournament. Rumana Ahmed is back on
7.05pm: England, I suppose, will at least appreciate a few more minutes of centre-wicket practice, given the amount of time they've spent indoors while in St Lucia. Still, I think if Knight and Jones could tick these off sharpish, everyone would appreciate it... The toss for South Africa-Sri Lanka is due to take place in 25 minutes, and that is likely to be a more competitive affair
6.52pm: They are roping the outfield now - I think the teams are going to finish this on the field. Okay, we have a restart time of 7.08pm, which seems a rather unnecessary delay; and we've lost four overs, too, so England's target is going to come down, as well - they now only need 64, so nine more runs with seven overs to get there. Ummm, okay
6.45pm: We'll have a wee wait, but I'd be surprised if they go back on now. The DLS par score for England is 32, by the way, so no doubt about who's in front by that measure... Actually, the groundstaff are already beginning to remove the covers from the square, so a swift resumption isn't out of the question
6.40pm: In fact, the umpires are taking the players off straight away, obviously mindful of the amount of rain this ground has soaked up in recent days. They're getting the covers on in advance. With nine overs bowled in England's innings, this already constitutes a game (and while I don't have the DLS tables in front of me, I'd suggest England are comfortable ahead); given the second game is supposed to start in an hour and 20 minutes, it's probably the right course of action to take.
Rain coming down at the Daren Sammy Stadium now... Don't think that will affect this one, but it doesn't bode well for the later game, between South Africa and Sri Lanka
Three wickets on England debut helps restrict Bangladesh to 77, as batsmen overcome wobble to launch campaign