England return to the top of Group B with emphatic Scotland win

At the ICC Women's T20 World Cup 2024, England made it three wins out of three as they defeated Scotland by ten wickets in Sharjah.

With just 10 overs remaining to reach their target of 110, England is leading Group B going into their final match against the West Indies.

The Windies and South Africa are the other two teams remaining in contention for the two semi-final positions.

While Sophie Ecclestone excelled with the ball, the Bryce sisters produced the innings' best work as Scotland amassed 109 for six, demonstrating care with the bat.

In response, Maia Bouchier (62) and Danni Wyatt-Hodge (51) did not lose any time in establishing an undefeated partnership of 113 runs, leading to a decisive victory.

Scotland, put to bat, got off to a steady start. After six overs, they reached 29 for none thanks to the powerplays of Saskia Horley and Sarah Bryce.

However, they were having trouble hitting boundaries. Horley attempted to increase the run rate but was unable to connect when looking to go over mid-off. Instead, she found Sophie Ecclestone off the bowling of Nat Sciver-Brunt, leaving the game at 38 for 13.

That reunited the Bryce sisters, with Kathryn joining Sarah in the middle and the two of them reaching 50 when Amy Jones stumped Sarah Bryce off Ecclestone for 27.

Scotland's first-ever six in an ICC Women's T20 World Cup was hammered over midwicket by Ailsa Lister, who came and made history.

After being dismissed by Danielle Gibson for eleven, she was caught by Heather Knight, and in her last Twenty20 international, Lorna Jack-Brown came to the wicket. With three overs remaining, Scotland was down to five after Charlie Dean bowled Kathryn Bryce for 33 after Lauren Bell had clean-bowled her for a duck. 

Ecclestone finished with figures of two for 13 from four overs, taking out Darcey Carter with her second wicket on the last delivery of the innings.

In the penultimate over, Sciver-Brunt hit the stumps but the bails remained in place, giving Katherine Fraser some luck. Scotland reached 109 runs with four more byes.

Maia Bouchier smacked the first three deliveries to the boundary in the chase, demonstrating her intent from the start.

Olivia Bell had an opportunity to break the opening stand, but she failed to stop Bouchier's return catch, which cost Scotland dearly.

With Danni Wyatt-Hodge at his side, England quickly reached 50 runs without losing, reaching their half-century mark with three boundaries in four balls in the fifth over. Wyatt-Hodge joined in the action as well, chasing Bell and then Kathryn Bryce as England dominated the powerplay, scoring 66 for none at the conclusion, the highest score of any team thus far in the tournament.

Bouchier reached her half-century in thirty balls after hitting a four-ball six off the last ball of the eighth over.

Before Bouchier completed the victory with a perfect final four to make the greatest individual score of the tournament thus far, Wyatt-Hodge joined her in scoring fifty, reaching that mark off just twenty-six balls.

Quick scores

At the Sharjah Cricket Stadium in Sharjah, United Arab Emirates, England will play Scotland.

In 20 overs, Scotland scored 109/6 (Kathryn Bryce with 33, Sarah Bryce with 27; Sophie Ecclestone with 2/13, Danielle Gibson with 1/5, Lauren Bell with 1/16).

In ten overs, England scored 113/0 (Maia Bouchier with 62 not out, Danni Wyatt-Hodge with 51 not out, Abtaha Maqsood with 0/11, and Darcey Carter with 0/11).

England won by a margin of ten wickets.