Former captain was granted three reprieves as England overcame Bangladesh in Guwuhati
It is often said a team needs luck to win a major tournament and England will hope they did not use all theirs up in escaping with a tense victory over Bangladesh in their second Women’s World Cup match.
After rolling over South Africa for 69 to win their opening match by ten wickets England found Bangladesh a much harder proposition in Guwahati and were indebted to a gritty, and fortunate, unbeaten 78 by veteran Heather Knight.
The former captain was “out” three times, being reprieved by the third umpire each time, controversially as far as the Bengal Tigresses were concerned.
She made the most of her “lives”, combining with Charlie Dean (27 no) for a match-winning unbroken seventh-wicket partnership of 79, by far the highest of the match, to win by four wickets with 23 balls left.
The margin makes the win appear much easier than it was – with 20 overs to go England were in real trouble.
Put in to bat Bangladesh had recovered from 7-130 to post 178, all out in the last over.
Sobhana Mostary anchored with 60 while Rabeya Khan hit a late 43 not out off 27 balls, twice the rate of any other batter in the match. Sophie Ecclestone (3-24) was the pick of an England attack in which nine wickets fell to spin.
That was a portent but England were first undone by the late inswing of Marufa Akter who had both openers leg before and thought she’d dismissed Knight caught behind first ball. The on-field umpire gave it but third umpire Gayathri Venugopalan overturned the decision saying there was “nothing conclusive”.
Then Knight was given out leg before to Marufa on eight. She reviewed and the ball was just missing leg stump.
Finally, and most controversially, she was caught by Shorna Akter off Fahima Khatun when 13, only for the umpire to decide the ball was grounded.
Next batter Sophia Dunkley had already passed Knight on her way to the crease by the time the decision was made and the latter admitted: “I thought it carried and was a fair catch that is why I walked off. Obviously the TV umpire decided otherwise.
“I can’t say I have been out three times and been reprieved ever in an innings. That was a new one for me,” she added.
Knight at this stage was struggling with 13 runs off 38 balls. She missed the English season with injury and was short of practice.
But as wickets tumbled around her, with Fahima superb as she took 3-16 in ten overs, Knight first dug in, then began to play with fluency.
With Dean solid at the other end, Marufa injured and only able to bowl her opening five-over spell, and Nigar Sultana Joty surprisingly taking Fahima out of the attack for a while, England were able to recover from 6-103 to win.
“Obviously there was a little bit of pressure on,” said Knight. “We made it hard for ourselves but the main thing in World Cups is getting over line.”
All ICC Cricket World Cup matches to be broadcast exclusively live and free on Prime Video.
2025 Women’s ODI World Cup standings
Team
Matches played
M
Wins
W
Losses
L
Ties
T
No results
N/R
Net Run Rate
NRR
Deductions
Ded.
Total points
PTS
1
ENG
2
2
0
0
0
1.757
0
4
2
IND
2
2
0
0
0
1.515
0
4
3
AUS
2
1
0
0
1
1.78
0
3
4
BAN
2
1
1
0
0
0.573
0
2
5
SA
2
1
1
0
0
-1.402
0
2
6
SL
2
0
1
0
1
-1.255
0
1
7
NZ
2
0
2
0
0
-1.485
0
0
8
PAK
2
0
2
0
0
-1.777
0
0
Legend
M: Matches played
W: Wins
L: Losses
T: Ties
N/R: No results
NRR: Net Run Rate
Ded.: Deductions
PTS: Total points
