Semi-Final Line-Up Decided; One More Win Brings Trip To India

REVIEW OF THE DAY - DAY THREE

With the group matches completed on Tuesday, Bangladesh and Scotland joined Ireland and Zimbabwe in the semi-finals of the ICC Women's World Twenty 20 Qualifier being played in Bangkok. Thursday's semi-finals at Thailand Cricket Ground will now decide which two of these four teams will win places at the ICC Women's World Twenty 20 being played in India next year. The final round of matches from Group A were played in the morning with Bangladesh overcoming a brave Papua New Guinea side by 41 runs after Kari Seura had taken two wickets for two runs in three overs to leave Bangladesh in trouble on 47 for 5. They showed determination to recover to 100 for 7 and then their spinners, Khadija and Rumana, were too much for PNG who were bowled out for 59 in the final over. Scotland enjoyed a comfortable victory over Thailand at TCG as the hosts again started slowly on being asked to bat first and, although Sornnarin Tippoch and Chanida Sutthiruang were able to increase the tempo, Thailand was unable to hit any boundaries in their 20 overs so their total remained a modest one at 74 for 7. Tippoch claimed two wickets and leg-spinner Suleeporn Laomi again bowled well but Scotland eased to victory by six wickets with 10 balls to spare as Rachel Scholes was player of the match for her 32 and figures of 4-0-7-1. Ireland and Zimbabwe had already qualified from Group B with two wins out of two but their afternoon match at TCG would decide the winners of the group and it was Ireland who was victorious thanks to the Joyce sisters. Isobel took four wickets for 20 as Zimbabwe were bowled out for 78 and Cecilia scored 36 as Ireland won by seven wickets with 4.4 overs to spare. Ireland will now play Scotland in the semi-finals, while Bangladesh will face Zimbabwe. The last match of the day was an exciting contest at AIT between Netherlands and China which would decide third place in the group. Netherlands scored 101 for 6 in their 20 overs and soon had China 6 for 3 in the third over but it was China who won their first match at this level as they reached 103 for 5 with captain Huang Zhuo unbeaten on 40. There will also be semi-finals of the Shield competition on Thursday with Netherlands facing Papua New Guinea and Thailand playing long term rivals China.