Sri Lanka, Scotland become final teams to qualify for ICC Women’s T20 World Cup

Sri Lanka and Scotland became the final teams to qualify for this year’s Women’s T20 World Cup in Bangladesh after reaching the summit clash of the ongoing qualifying tournament in the UAE.

Powered by Kathryn Bryce’s all-round display, Scotland thrashed neighbours Ireland by eight wickets in the first of the two semi-finals, which took place in Abu Dhabi’s Zayed Cricket Stadium on Saturday. Bryce collected 4/8 to help her team restrict Ireland to 110/9, before scoring an unbeaten 35 off 29 deliveries to help Scotland chase the target down with eight wickets and nearly four overs to spare.

Sri Lanka, meanwhile, overcame a spirited all-round performance from Esha Oza to defeat T20 World Cup Qualifier hosts UAE by 15 runs in the second semi-final clash on Saturday, and maintain their hundred per cent attendance record at the ICC’s showpiece T20 event.

WT20 World Cup schedule | India grouped with Australia, Pakistan

Opener Vishmi Gunaratne top-scored for the Lankans with a knock of 45 at nearly run-a-ball to help her side post 149/6 on the board. UAE opener Oza later got her team off to a dream start in the chase, and had the hosts staring at the prospect of boarding the flight to Bangladesh later this year at 104/2 in the 15th over.

Chamari Athapaththu (2/28) and Udeshika Prabodhani (1/31), however, struck in quick succession, removing Kavisha Egodage  (16) and Oza in the 15th and 16th overs respectively to turn the game on its head. The Sri Lankans did not look back after the twin strike and kept chipping away at the hosts, restricting them to 134/7 to collect a 15-run win.

Sri Lanka and Scotland square off in the final in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday.

It remains to be seen which team goes where as far as the Women’s T20 World Cup groups are concerned, with the two groups having one qualifying team each.

The Harmanpreet Kaur Indian team, which had bowed out of the tournament in the semi-finals last year, face one of the qualifying teams on 9 October.