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Johannesburg, Jan 12 (IANS) India and hosts South Africa suffered disappointing losses to Bangladesh and Australia respectively in their warm-up matches while Rwanda warmed up for their first-ever ICC World Cup with a thrilling surprise victory over Ireland.
Bangladesh made 121/7, thanks to an unbeaten 75 off 54 balls by Shorna Akter, including two fours and seven sixes at St Stithians ground in Johannesburg. India looked to be in control of the chase with all but two of their wickets in hand, but miscalculated what was required and ended agonisingly short of their target on 118/2.
Hosts South Africa, on the other hand, were bowled out for only 61 against the highly-fancied Australia. Karabo Meso (24 from 20 balls) played a lone hand as the only South Africa batter to reach double figures, while Rhys McKenna (3/7) and Charis Bekker (2/6) did the damage for Australia.
Australia lost a couple of early wickets to Kayla Reyneke (2/5) before Ella Hayward (34 not out from 30 balls) and Claire Moore (21 from 26 balls) came together to complete the eight-wicket triumph and fire a warning shot to the rest of the competition.
The World Cup debutants Rwanda pushed their relative inexperience aside with controlled innings to score 103/7 as four batters reached double figures. Belise Murekatete (26 from 28 balls) was the pick of the batters as her middle-innings heroics ensured Rwanda reached their competitive total.
The Ireland openers Siuin Woods (16 from 26 balls) and captain Amy Hunter (41 from 47 balls) prized their wickets early, as did first-drop Joanna Loughran (27 from 37 balls), but they were unable to pick up the pace late when required as Rwanda sealed a confidence-boosting one-run win.
Other matches produced significant results as New Zealand comfortably chased down Pakistan's total of 109/6 with seven wickets and more than five overs in hand after openers Antonia Hamilton (36 not out from 34 balls) and Georgia Plimmer (27 from 20 balls) set up the win with an assertive start.
Pakistan opener Eyman Fatima (45 from 46 balls) and first-drop Warda Yousaf (23 from 43 balls) battled hard against the Kiwi quicks but their slower scoring left the middle order with too much to do.
The West Indies warmed up with a commanding display after restricting Zimbabwe to 71/8 from their 20 overs. Medium pacer Jahzara Claxton stood out with some tight bowling and two wickets. Opener Shunelle Sawh (19 from 37 balls) and number three Naijanni Cumberbatch (22 from 21) spent valuable time at the crease to help secure a six-wicket victory.
England made light work of Indonesia with a 10-wicket victory as they chased down the 46 runs needed with 14.5 overs to spare. Openers Grace Scrivens (26 from 15 balls) and Niamh Holland (19 from 17) completed the chase with ease.
England used the Indonesia innings to trial eight bowlers with Ryana Macdonald-Gay the only one to use her full allocation. The right-armer was arguably the stand-out and took 2/8.
The USA put in a composed display as they posted 122/7 and then restricted the UAE to 91/6. Sri Lanka also impressed as they dismissed Scotland for 87 and then chased it down with seven wickets in hand.
--IANS
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