Sharmin, Fargana form record stand as Tigresses clean sweep Ireland

Sharmin Akhter and Fargana Haque formed the highest-ever partnership for the Bangladesh women's team in WODIs to propel the team to a dominating seven-wicket win over Ireland in the third and final WODI as the hosts took the series 3-0 at the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium in Dhaka today.

Sharmin made 72 off 88 balls in a well-paced innings while Fargana again played the anchor role at the top, making 61 off 99, and together they formed a mammoth 143-run stand off 168 balls as the Tigresses chased down the 186-run target in just 37.3 overs.

With the win, Bangladesh completed their second ever clean-sweep in a three-match WODI series. Earlier, they had clean swept Zimbabwe in Zimbabwe in 2021.

In the chase, opener Murshida Khatun departed in the fifth over for eight, after which Fargana and Sharmin got together and put the team on course for victory.

Aimee Maguire dismissed the duo in successive overs but that didn't affect the outcome of the match as skipper Nigar Sultana Joty (18) and Sobhana Mostary (seven) safely took Bangladesh to 186-3.

The match was earlier set up by the spinners, who took all 10 wickets to bundle out Ireland for 185 in 50 overs after the visitors had opted to bat first.

Leg-spinner Fahima Khatun claimed three wickets while Sultana Khatun and Nahida Akter took a couple of wickets each.

Irish skipper Gaby Lewis scored a half-century, but her 52 off 79-ball innings wasn't enough to post a challenging target for the hosts.

Sharmin, who made her comeback to the national team in this series, was named the player-of-the-match while Fargana was named the player-of-the-series.