England thrashed Scotland in the Women’s T20 Cricket World Cup to move top of their group and remain unbeaten.
The result leaves England alongside Australia as the only unbeaten teams in the tournament, albeit both teams are in separate groups.
Having restricted Scotland to 109-6 from their 20 overs – captain Kathryn Bryce knocked 33 and opener Sarah Bryce scored 27 – England won by 10 wickets in Sharjah.
Maia Bouchier added 62 of England’s runs with Danni Wyatt-Hodge adding the other 52 to conclude a comfortable victory.
England triumph
Player of the match Maia Bouchier said: “There was great communication between Danni [Wyatt-Hodge] and I. We knew we had to stick to our strengths which we did really well and we got the team to a win.
“We got told about net-run-rate in the eighth over and it’s really important at this point in the tournament, there’s such fine margins. Our bowlers did really well to keep their runs down too.
“We want to take the trophy now. We’re keeping an eye on everyone’s scores and putting ourselves in a really positive position but we’ve got to keep our calm and not think too far ahead.
“I was proud of my personal performance and I backed myself out there to get us the win.”
The victory sees England top the net-run-rate stats in Group B with one match against the West Indies remaining before a potential semi-final.
Australia are overwhelming favourites and are looking to win a fourth consecutive Women’s T20 Cricket World Cup title.
Scotland the brave
Scotland captain Kathryn Bryce said: “It’s been a pretty tough tournament for us, but a massive honour to be here and lead the team out in a massive tournament like this. There can only be learnings that can be taken from it moving forward. It’s just about getting the basics right and doing it over and over again with real quality every single time.
“I think it’s always challenging playing in a different stadium for the first time and facing a different team. On this stage as well, the girls are gradually getting used to that. it was the final game and we just went out to enjoy that.”