Joty unsatisfied, but proud after Australia defeat

Bangladesh skipper Nigar Sultana Joty expressed her disappointment on losing several close encounters in the ongoing ICC Women’s World Cup after their five-wicket defeat to Australia in Wellington on Friday.

Joty, despite the disappointment, took pride in her team’s fighting spirit to push Australia to the brink of an unlikely upset.

“Yeah, obviously (I am proud). I think the bowlers have done wonderfully well today. And obviously, it was great to be able to give Australia some tough time in the middle,” she said in the post-match press conference.

Bangladesh lost by 32 runs to South Africa in their opening fixture and were beaten by four runs by West Indies.

Joty had regrets about not winning the tight contests on their maiden World Cup campaign and believed it was because of their inexperience.

“I am definitely not satisfied. Because based on our performance, we thought we would win 3-4 matches from here. And it was almost possible, we lost a lot of close matches. I would say it is for our lack of experience. We could not be satisfied because it’s not really a satisfying situation. We could have performed a little better as a team,” she said.

Bangladesh faced Australia for the first time on Friday. Despite the gulf in experience between the sides, Bangladesh’s impressive bowling effort pronged Australia, but a familiar batting display let them down.

Batting first, Bangladesh could only manage 135-6 in their 43 overs.

Joty marshalled her bowlers well as they took five wickets for just 70 runs, but experienced Aussie batters Beth Mooney and Annabel Sutherland safeguarded Australia to the win with a 67-run stand.