Ireland won the ICC Women's World Twenty20 Qualifier when they beat Bangladesh by two wickets from the last ball of a dramatic final which came to a gripping climax under darkening skies, at Terdthai Cricket Ground in Bangkok.
Zimbabwe had earlier beaten Scotland by three wickets in another very close match to finish third in the tournament, and in the day’s other matches at AIT Papua New Guinea beat China by seven wickets to win the Shield competition and Thailand won their first match of the competition by defeating Netherlands by nine wickets.
Bangladesh had been favourites to win the final as they had beaten Ireland on two previous occasions in T20 Internationals and they looked to have posted an imposing target as they reached 104 for 3 in their 20 overs thanks to Nigar Sultana (41) and Rumana Ahmed (38*) who shared a third wicket partnership of 74 as Rumana showed she could indeed bat as well as she bowls her leg-spin.
Ireland’s openers, Shillington and Cecilia Joyce, have been positive throughout the tournament and they played the same way in the final as 24 came from the first two overs. Wickets fell regularly, Rumana taking two more to give her 14 in the tournament, but somehow Ireland kept just ahead of the Duckworth Lewis par score which was important as rain threatened throughout.
It was Laura Delaney who saw her team home with an unbeaten 26 as she seemed to be able to keep up with a rate of five an over without taking any risks. Eight were needed from the last over and one from the last ball as Ireland became deserved winners of the ICC Women’s World Twenty20 Qualifier and Thailand had successfully hosted its first official Women’s Twenty20 International.
Zimbabwe finished in third place as they beat Scotland in very exciting fashion as their captain Chipo Mugeri hit 14 runs from the last over of their play-off to reach their target of 95 with seven wickets down and one ball to spare after the umpire had called no ball when it looked like the match would require a Super Over. Player of the match Mugeri finished on 47* and claimed two wickets for 17 as Scotland had made 94 for 4 in their 20 overs.
Papua New Guinea won the Shield competition as they won the final against China as they reached a target of 94 with only three wickets down as Tanya Ruma made 37 not out as PNG won their third match out of five to give them a highly satisfactory competition.
Thailand and Netherlands would have both expected to do better having impressed two years ago in Ireland but they played off for third and fourth place in the Shield. Neither had won a match so far but there was some consolation for the hosts as they again performed well in the field to restrict Netherlands to 70 and this time batted much more positively tow win by nine wickets.