As the men’s qualification for the T20 World Cup begins to heat up, so too does the women’s as the European qualification for the women’s world cup took place in Spain last week. Scotland, Germany and the Netherlands took part in the tournament with Scotland already guaranteed a T20 spot due to hosting the major qualification tournament in late August. This meant that whichever team finished highest out of Netherlands and Germany would also enter the World Qualifier in Scotland.
While locking T20 qualification by virtue of being hosts of the global qualifier later this year, Scotland still needed to top the three-team tournament for their Women’s 50 Over World Cup hopes. In a move made by the ICC for several regions across the world, the qualifiers are acting as a double whammy, with only top spot in Europe progressing.
The tournament saw all teams play each other twice, and heading into the tournament Scotland were the more fancied team sitting 13th in the world rankings whilst the Netherlands sat at 23rd and Germany at 31st, debuting in their first ICC official T20 tournament.
On the opening day, Scotland opened their account with an eight-wicket victory over Germany, before taking on the Dutch later that day. Falling by seven runs chasing 123 from their allotted 20 overs, Heather Siegers was phenomenal for the Dutch in their upset win, scoring 25 in an important opening partnership before taking 2/10 off four overs in the second innings.
Day two saw a dominant display by the Dutch women setting Germany 196 in their twenty overs. Sterre Kalis led the way with a dominant 126 off 76 balls including ten fours and five sixes which paved the way for a comfortable victory for the Netherlands. In the second match of the day, Scotland and Netherlands played out a low-scoring classic. The Netherlands bowled out Scotland for 96 before an inspired spell from skipper Kathryn Bryce of 2-9 from 4 overs saw the Dutch needing seven from the final over. A run out off the final ball for the Netherlands saw the match head to a super over where Bryce teamed up with sister Sarah to chase the seven-run total set by the Dutch.
Heading into the final day the Dutch led due to their superior net run rate. For the Scots, they would need a crushing victory over Germany before hoping Germany could beat or limit the damage against the Netherlands to win the tournament. Scotland led again by skipper Kathryn Bryce recorded a 107-run victory against the Germans, temporarily placing them on top prior to the final match. However, the Dutch limited the Germans to only 63 from their 20 overs chasing the total in seven overs placing them back on top of the ladder.
The Netherlands, thanks to their nine-wicket victory in the last match, stood top of the table by 0.52 on net run rate. Missing out on 50 Over World Cup progress, Scotland, by virtue of hosting the T20 World Qualifier, will compete for a T20 World Cup birth alongside the Dutch. The qualifying finals will begin on the 31st of August with Bangladesh, Ireland, Scotland, Thailand, Zimbabwe, Papua New Guinea. USA and Netherlands competing. The top two teams from the tournament will progress to the T20 Women’s World Cup in Australia in 2020.
