The United States women’s cricket team was on a 12 game losing streak in the World Cup Qualifier.
The important word there: was.
That losing streak went from an “is” to a “was” in the wee hours of Tuesday morning on the East Coast when the USA chased down a 145 target for their first win in the T20 World Cup Qualifier that brings to life their chances to advance.
It didn’t always look promising. Namibia’s openers put on a clinic in the power play, especially Yasmeen Khan, who spared no bowler in her display of fluid, confident stroke play even as wickets began to fall at the other end. Isani Vaghela got two wickets to fall on consecutive balls in the fifth over, but Khan was too stubborn and too smooth to be dislodged. She took Taranum Chopra for 10 runs in the ninth, Maahi Madhavan for 12 in the 10th, and Saanvi Immadi for 17 in the 15th before some heads-up work by Ella Claridge got Merczerly Gorases out stumped to give Immadi a sorely needed wicket.
Claridge struck again when Norris took the ball in the 17th and stumped Khan back to the pavilion. Norris got Naomi Benjamin through the front gate two balls later, then Mekelaye Mwatile holed out to Ritu Singh in the deep for Norris’ third wicket of the over. She still got taken deep twice in the 19th, but the USA gave themselves a puncher’s chance at the target by wiping out the middle order before it had a chance to do any damage.
Ella Claridge arrived at the crease in the third over of the power play after Disha Dhingra picked out mid-on with a looping misfired drive, and the wicketkeeper delivered runs immediately with a four behind square on the third ball, but the USA was way behind at 30/1 after the power play.
The chase finally kicked into gear in the 14th over when Ritu Singh came to the crease opposite Claridge and picked up right where she left off against Bangladesh. They put 33 runs on the board in three overs to put the Americans 37 runs shy of the target with four overs left as Ritu fell after a swift 21 from just 10 balls. Claridge continued her surge with 15 runs by herself in a 17 run over in the 18th, leaving just 13 runs to get. She got eight more in the 19th before falling LBW to Wilka Mwatile, but the target was four runs from eight balls when she walked away, and Norris and Pooja Ganesh were able to nurse the squad over the finish line.
Norris finished 3/34 in her first spell of the tournament; Vaghela went 2/15, and both bowlers created a stutter at pivotal points in Namibia’s innings. Claridge delivered with 70 runs to anchor the chase and remains a load-bearing role in the lineup whether she bats third or somewhere else. Ritu Singh handed in another impressive cameo and is commanding the opportunity to see more deliveries with the raw power she is bringing to bear in the short format. In a moment where the team can redefine its core, players are stepping up to make it clear they want to be there when the women’s calendar expands under new governance.
While the impact of this win in a vacuum is likely to be muted, especially if it doesn’t lead to qualification for the T20 World Cup, it remains a major milestone for a program that has remained on the margins of the sport’s American ecosystem for as long as it has existed. This young team has taken a lot of lumps on its way to this kind of breakthrough and may have more in store with a formidable Ireland team on deck, but if everything else plays chalk, a win over Papua New Guinea will put the USA into the Super 6 for the first time ever. From there, the path to a first-ever T20 World Cup is considerably shorter. The competition also gets a lot stiffer, but this team has shown that it’s ready to measure itself against the best of associate cricket - and then some.