Sornnarin Tippoch's 69 and 1 for 35 and Nattaya Boochatham's 5 for 26 proved pivotal in Thailand's historic 16-run DLS-decided Group B win over Bangladesh in the Women's World Cup Qualifiers. This was their second one-day victory over a team with ODI status, the first one having come earlier in the tournament, over Zimbabwe.

Given Thailand don't yet hold ODI status, their victory against Bangladesh has strengthened their chance to seal a Super Six berth in the qualifier, which would ensure them the ODI cachet by virtue of gaining automatic qualification for the next cycle of the expanded, ten-team ICC Women's Championship.

Chasing 177, Tippoch strung a 97 opening stand with Natthakan Chantham (37 off 69), hitting seven fours in her 113-ball knock. Both openers, however, fell in the space of 5.1 overs. By the time rain intervened, Thailand were 132 for 2 in 39.2 overs, 15 runs ahead of their DLS cutoff of 117.

Earlier, Thailand's decision to bowl paid dividends as restricted Bangladesh, unbeaten in the competition until today, to 176 for 8 off 50 overs. Fargana Hoque (51), Murshida Khatun (46), Lata Mondal (29), and Rumana Ahmed (27) were the only batters to make double-digit scores.

Thailand trail first-placed Bangladesh, who have a superior net run rate, by one spot on the Group B points table, with both on four points apiece from two wins out of three games.

Laura Delany and Orla Prendergast were the stars of the show for Ireland as they defended a total of 199 against Netherlands in the Women's World Cup qualifiers at Harare. Delany top-scored with 75 even as the rest of her line-up tumbled around her. The 21-year old Dutch legspinner Silver Siegers picked up 4 for 24 to set up what looked like a straightforward chase and for the longest time it was. They were 158 for 3 in the 43rd over with victory very much in sight when Delany popped up with the run-out of Netherlands captain Heather Siegers. That triggered a collapse - seven wickets for 12 runs, three of them to Prendergast - as the game turned completely on its head.

Francisca Chipare rescued a Zimbabwe side that was teetering on the brink of defeat, the No. 11 cracking three fours in a 15-ball innings to secure a nail-biting one-wicket victory. USA could only post a total of 131, where their top-scorer was the extras with 23, but their bowlers rallied hard to make a match of it. The 31-year old seamer Moksha Chaudhary grabbed four wickets for herself as Zimbabwe slumped from 73 for 2 to 97 for 8. But even as the game seemed lost, up stepped a most unlikely hero. The 23-year old Chipare (16*) was one of only two players in the entire game with a strike rate better than run-a-ball.