Scotland and Ireland signed off from the Women’s World Cup Qualifier with a thriller that saw Ireland complete their highest successful chase, off the last ball of the game and with one wicket in hand, and knock Scotland out of contention of the World Cup. Both teams finished on four points.

The result leaves the race for the second World Cup spot down to two teams on the final day of the tournament, where Bangladesh play already-qualified Pakistan and West Indies meet Thailand. Bangladesh are currently in second place and have some wriggle room. They do not need to beat Pakistan to qualify, and could get there with a loss, provided West Indies do not go past their net run-rate. West Indies must beat Thailand by a big margin in order to give themselves a chance of getting to the World Cup.

Both Scotland and Ireland will be disappointed at missing out, especially after Scotland beat West Indies in their opener and were in the mix going into this game. They needed to beat Ireland to stay in contention and gave themselves as good a chance as they could after posting their highest ODI score of 268 for 7.

Captain Kathryn Bryce was the architect of the total and scored her first ODI century to help Scotland recover from 19 for 3 in the powerplay to set Ireland a challenging target. Bryce has also scored two half-centuries in the qualifier and with 293 runs, is the leading run scorer.

Her innings was a wonderful mix of accuracy and aggression as she pierced gaps in the Irish field and struck 14 fours and two sixes, mostly through the covers and over mid-wicket. Bryce shared in four half-century stands: a run-a-ball 62 with Ailsa Lister, 65 with Katherine Fraser, 51 with Priyanaz Chatterji and 52 off 30 balls with Rachel Slater, who was with her when her hundred came up. Bryce got there with a slash over the covers off the 122nd ball she faced. She went on to score 31 more runs off the next 15 deliveries and showed off an excellent ability to accelerate at the death.

Ireland’s prospects of reaching the World Cup were gone after their third loss earlier in the week and they approached their innings like a side with nothing to lose. Sarah Forbes and Gaby Lewis put on 109 for the first wicket and Forbes went on to her first ODI fifty to set Ireland up well. Forbes was run out when she ran from the non-striker’s end almost to Lewis, who swept and turned down a single but it was too late to send Forbes back. Amy Hunter was caught behind two balls later and Lewis, on 61, followed in the same fashion and Scotland were clawing their way back.

Orla Prendagast looked good for her 33 but popped a simple catch to Lister at mid-on in the 35th over, with Ireland still 89 runs away from victory. Scotland dismissed Leah Paul, Louise Little and Sophie MacMohan in the space of 23 deliveries and at 209 for 7, Ireland looked out of the game. But Laura Delany had not yet had her full say. She had No.8 Jane Macguire for company and they put on 53 runs for the eighth wicket to leave Scotland scrambling.

Delaney reached fifty off 55 balls at the end of the 47th over, with Ireland still needing 20 runs off the last 18 balls. Byrce took matters into her own hands. She already had figures of 2 for 37 from seven overs and brought herself on to bowl the 48th and 50th over. She conceded seven runs in the 48th over. Ireland needed 13 from 12. Slater was tasked with the penultimate over and six runs were scored off her first five balls before she had Macguire caught on the leg side boundary as she tried to leave as little as possible to do in the last over. Macguire was dismissed for a career-best 28 and Ireland seven to win off the last over.

It was all up to Bryce. She started with a dot ball to Delany and then gave away a single which brought the new batter, No.10, Ava Canning, on strike. She took guard on middle stump, Bryce bowled it on that line and Canning scooped the ball out to long-on, where a diving fielder could not get to it in time to haul it in. That boundary left Ireland needing two runs off the last three balls and still Bryce wasn’t done. She bowled Canning, who played a loose drive, and Ireland needed two off two. Cara Murray padded the ball to the off side and Ireland ran one to level scores. With tensions running high, Delany tried to flick the final ball, missed and it trickled off her pad but she ran with all she had to seal Ireland’s win in the most epic of Celtic clashes.

Brief scores:
Ireland Women  269 for 9 in 50 overs  (Gabby Lewis 61, Laura Delany 57*, Sarah Forbes 55, Orla Prendergast 33, Jane Maguire 28; Katherine Fraser 2-37, Chloe Abel 2-50, Kathryn Bryce 3-49) beat  Scotland Women  268 for 7 in 50 overs  (Kathryn Bryce 131*, Alisa Lister 27, Katherine Fraser 33, Priyanaz Chatterji 26; Ava Canning 3-48, Cara Murray 2-48) by one wicket

[Cricinfo]

Horror for the batters, fantasy for the bowlers – it was a mash-up of genres at the M Chinnaswamy stadium and it kept the viewer guessing, but the climax went Punjab Kings’ way thanks to  Nehal Wadhera’s sparkling 33 off 19 balls. The heavy lifting, though, was done by their bowlers after Shreyas Iyer won the toss and put RCB in to bat after rain reduced the game to a 14-overs-a-side affair.

Arshdeep Singh bowled consistent lengths, Yuzvendra Chahal was back to looping the ball and looking for spin and Marco Jansen used his height to good effect. Together, they reduced RCB to 42 for 7. They could have been bowled out for under 49, their lowest total, but Tim David’s 26-ball 50 not out ensured they nearly doubled it and that they weren’t all-out.

Josh Hazelwood made a modest chase of 96 tougher than it seemed on a pitch that offered steep bounce. PBKS might have feared being hit by a comeback similar to the one they delivered to Kolkata Knight Riders three days ago, but they didn’t rush the chase and were able to target bowlers in the end which got them through.

After being put into bat and with fewer overs to play with, RCB looked to get off to a positive start. Phil Salt drove the first ball down the ground for four. Cross-batted and aerial shots were fraught with danger right from the start. Both Salt and Virat Kohli were out pulling, the former off a length ball and the latter to a shorter ball after walking down the pitch.

Arshdeep Singh, who came into this game with two powerplay wickets this season, doubled his tally.

Rajat Patidar whipped Arshdeep and Xavier Bartlett for a four and a six over the leg side. Liam Livingstone looked to end the four-over powerplay on a high. He charged at Bartlett and was out trying to slap a length ball, with Priyansh Arya running back from cover point to take the catch.

RCB’s were reduced to 26 for 3. Jitesh Sharma swung at Marco Jansen but was beaten both times and in the following over Patidar top-edged a pull off Chahal which landed safely at midwicket. Jitesh wasn’t as lucky next ball as he found deep backward square with a slog sweep.

Two balls later, Krunal Pandya was the third batter out on the pull. He couldn’t extend his arms fully and feathered a shortish ball from Jansen onto his helmet and it popped right up for a caught and bowled. PBKS used DRS to reduce RCB to 33 for 5.

Chahal, who was back to slowing down his speeds and teasing the batter, struck again by looping the ball wide of Patidar’s off stump and having him slash to long-off. RCB’s ploy to send in Manoj Bhandage as the Impact Player didn’t work as he was beaten on the flick by Jansen and dismissed lbw.

Bhuvneshwar Kumar and David stitched a 21-run stand for the eighth wicket, taking RCB past fifty. Harpreet Brar dismissed Bhuvneshwar and Yash Dayal off successive balls, leaving the hosts at 63 for 9 in 11.5 overs.

David then nailed a few expansive shots at the end. He went deep in the crease to pull Bartlett for two fours. He farmed strike to face the final over and smashed three successive sixes, including one off a no-ball, to reach his fifty and lift RCB to 95 for 9.

The chase started with a few early jitters for PBKS. Prabhsimran Singh missed a scoop and a swipe off Bhuvneshwar in the first over. Priyansh Arya then edged a cover drive off Yash Dayal over first slip in the next over.

A top edge off a swipe across the line fell safely at square leg to start the third. Prabhsimran connected with a couple of drives but miscued a flat-bat hit to mid-off when the bowler shortened his length. Arya was out in similar fashion off Hazlewood in the following over as PBKS were reduced to 33 for 2.

Josh Inglis and Shreyas Iyer were happy to play out a couple of quiet overs and only go after poor balls. Krunal Pandya delivered a couple of them in the sixth over when he drove the ball into the pitch, allowing Inglis to pull and cut.

Hazlewood, though, used his height to generate extra bounce to dismiss both batters on the cut. The ball zipped off a length to have Shreyas caught behind. The one to Inglis was shorter and went off the top edge to deep third. PBKS were 53 for 4, needing 43 off 36 balls.

Suyash Sharma’s attempt to bowl for wickets with a drop in pace and consistent lengths beat Wadhera four times when he was new to the crease. But the batter got a reverse between short third and backward point before plonking one over cow corner.

Hazlewood continued to be unhittable and gave away just two runs off the tenth over. He banged the ball into the pitch and nearly had Shashank Singh caught behind on the cut. He finished for 3 for 14 in three overs.

Suyash couldn’t build the pressure as he overpitched and Wadhera reached out and swiped him over long-off. He then pierced the gap through cover with a scorching drive. Luck, too, went against RCB as a ripping legbreak beat Wadhera’s cover drive and the keeper to race to the boundary.

The crowd tried to pump life into the game when Bhuvneshwar dismissed Shashank but those hopes were dashed by Wadhera, who first picked up a shortish ball over fine leg for six and then slapped a length ball on the up through cover.

Marcus Stoinis, who replaced Glenn Maxwell for the visitors, finished the game with a cross-bat hit over long-on and handed RCB a hat-trick of losses at home.

Brief scores:
Punjab Kings 98 for 5 in 12.1 overs (Priyansh Arya 16, Prabhsimran Singh 13, Josh Inglis 14, Nehal Wadhera 33; Josh  Hazlewood 3-14, Bhuvneshwar Kumar 2-26) beat  Royal Challengers Bengaluru 95 for 9 in 14 overs (Tim David 50*, Rajat Patidar 23;  Marco Jansen 2-10, Yuzvendra Chahal 2-11, Arshdeep Singh 2-23, Harpreet Brar  2-25, Xavier Bartlett 1-26) by five wickets

[Cricinfo]