England crush Scotland by 10 wickets, improve semifinal prospects

PTI Sharjah: England signalled their intentions with a 10-wicket mauling of Scotland to jump to the top of their group and brighten prospects of making the semifinals of the Women's T20 World Cup here on Sunday. Opting to bat first, Scotland were restricted to a modest 109 for 6 in their allotted 20 overs. In reply, England openers Maia Bouchier and Danni Wyatt- Hodge came out all guns blazing and completed the chase in just 10 overs while jacking up the team's net run rate with a brilliant powerplay.

Bouchier, who started the innings with a flurry of boundaries and also got a life early on, remained not out on 62 off 34 balls, while Wyatt-Hodge was unbeaten on 51 from 26 deliveries on a surface that played much better than a typical Sharjah wicket.The Scots were batting decently enough, but the English bowlers stuck to their plans and Sophie Ecclestone (2/13 from 4 overs) was the most successful one on the day.

Even as Sarah Bryce (27 off 31 balls) and Kathryn Bryce (33 off 28 balls) played handy cameos, it was never going to be enough for the tournament debutants. England, who were on third spot before the start of the match, needed to chase the target in 11.5 or fewer overs to take their net run rate ahead of South Africa's and in 9.3 or fewer overs to go past West Indies' NRR.