Mooney heaps praise on ‘extremely crafty’ Salma

Australia's Beth Mooney heaped praise on Bangladesh's 'crafty spinner' Slama Khatun, who single-handedly dismantled the Aussie top order in their ICC Women's World Cup group stage encounter in Wellington today. 

"She was super impressive today," Mooney said about Salma, who had removed Australia's top three batters – Alyssa Healy, Rachael Haynes and skipper Meg Lanning – to have the title favourites reeling at three for 26 after 9.2 overs. 

"Obviously, she took three poles up front, so whenever someone new came out, I sort of just said she was the main threat that we had to nullify," Mooney, who scored an unbeaten 66 to eventually help Australia recover and chase down Bangladesh's paltry 136-run target in a 43-overs-a-side game, said. 

Mooney also explained where they went wrong in dealing with Salma today. 

"She's a crafty spinner, got a lot of changes and can really settle on a length which is probably what we let her do a little bit today – settle on us a little bit more than we would normally, with that wind playing a factor as well. 

"She's extremely crafty. And she bowled really well today, so it's no surprise to me that she's been a very successful player for Bangladesh," Mooney said.

Meanwhile, Bangladesh skipper Nigar Sultana rued the batting collapse which led to them losing the match. 

"I think you can see how we actually fought in a lot of matches. It was close against West Indies and how we started the tournament against South Africa it was so close for us. Maybe we could play better here, but our batting unit collapsed and while the bowlers have done very well, if the batters supported them maybe we could have won two or three more matches here. But still we have one match to go, so I'm looking forward to bouncing back as a batting and bowling unit," said Sultana in the post-match virtual press conference.  

Bangladesh will face England in their last match of the World Cup on Sunday.