Nigar hopes to put SA knowledge to use

Bangladesh women's cricket team skipper Nigar Sultana hoped that going up against a familiar foe -- South Africa -- will work to their advantage when they begin their maiden ODI World Cup campaign in the wee hours of Saturday. 

 "We have played against South Africa many times so we know about their strengths," said Nigar ahead of their World Cup opener against South Africa at the University Oval in Dunedin tomorrow. 

Nigar has reasons behind her claim as Bangladesh have played 17 of their 42 ODIs against South Africa at home or away. However, the Tigresses could only win two of those encounters, both at home, while losing 5-0 in their latest tour of the country in 2018. 
    
"We have faced their fast bowlers before so we have some ideas about them and we have done our homework as well.

"For us and for everyone, the first match is very important. This is our opportunity, because we know South Africa well -- it is a very good chance for us and we are going for a good win," added Bangladesh's 24-year-old skipper.  

Bangladesh arrived in New Zealand early last month for the mega event with enough time to acclimatise with the conditions. The Tigresses, however, lost both their warm-up matches against England and Pakistan, the latter by just seven runs, but are confident about their preparations. 

"We have prepared well in the practice matches," she said. 

"The results didn't go our way but we took a lot of positives going into the tournament. We are taking it one match at a time. It's our first ever World Cup and we want to make it memorable.

 "I am trying to give the girls confidence that we don't want to focus on the names we are playing against, we want to focus on our strengths and what we can do as a team," Nigar added.