Guwahati, Oct 10 (IANS) New Zealand have won the toss and elected to bat first against Bangladesh in the 11th match of the ICC Women’s World Cup here at the Baraspara Stadium on Friday.

New Zealand have made one change to their lineup with Rosemary Mair coming in for Bree Illing, while Bangladesh made two changes with MST Sumaiya Akhter and Nishita Akter Nishi replacing Ritu Moni and Sanjida Akter Meghla in the playing XI.

New Zealand captain Sophie Devine said, “It’s a used wicket so we want to have a first crack at it. We will back ourselves to put a total on the board and then defend it. We have done some things right but we haven’t maintainted it for a long period. We want to be consistent with our bowling so we need to keep it simple.

“There’s still a lot of things that have gone right for us. It’s just being able to execute that for longer periods of time. For us it’s about making sure that when we get a partnership together, it’s going to be a match winning one and making sure that we really took it over the edge and then with the ball, it’s just been consistent staying on the stumps. It’s going to be the theme for most of the teams during this World Cup. It’s simple things but doing it for longer periods of time.

Bangladesh captain Nigar Sultana said, “I think we are okay to bowl first because our bowlers are doing good in the last few games. We want to give them the freedom. This is a very good opportunity for us. We have to do all the things that we have been doing in the last few games. We know we have the potential to win today.

Playing XIs-

Bangladesh: Rubya Haider, Sharmin Akhter, Nigar Sultana (c & wk), Sobhana Mostary, MST Sumaiya Akhter, Shorna Akter, Fahima Khatun, Nahida Akter, Rabeya Khan, Marufa Akter, Nishita Akter Nishi

New Zealand: Suzie Bates, Georgia Plimmer, Amelia Kerr, Sophie Devine (c), Brooke Halliday, Maddy Green, Isabella Gaze (wk), Jess Kerr, Rosemary Mair, Lea Tahuhu, Eden Carson

–IANS

hs/bc