Ireland Women defended 54 against Bangladesh Women in a match reduced to 10 overs a side, notching up a six-run win in the closely-contested first T20I in Bready.

With nine to defend in the last over, 16-year-old medium pacer Lucy O’Reilly conceded just three and took two wickets to close out the match with impressive death bowling.

Steady rain delayed the start and by the time the captains went out for the toss the match had already been reduced to a 10-over affair. Bangladesh won the toss and, having put Ireland in to bat, kept things quiet for the first two overs. The slow outfield made scoring boundaries difficult and Ireland managed just eight runs in the first two overs.

Bangladesh broke through in the third over, when medium-pacer Ritu Moni snared Gaby Lewis, but this was also the over in which Clare Shillington got going. Shillington hit two fours in the over to break the shackles and inject some much-needed impetus in Ireland’s innings.

However, Shillington was the only Ireland batsman who seemed able to find any fluency – she hit four fours in her 18-ball 26 even as all of her team-mates failed to reach double figures. The Bangladesh bowlers picked up wickets at regular intervals, continually denting Ireland’s efforts to build momentum. Ireland put on 21 for 6 in the 32 balls after Shillington’s dismissal, stuttering to 54 for 8 off their 10 overs.

The Bangladesh batsmen found the going equally tough, scoring 23 for 2 in the first six overs, each of which was delivered by a different bowler. This left them requiring 32 off the last four overs and, after scoring eight, seven and seven off the next three, they needed ten off the last one. Their hopes rested largely on Fargana Hoque who was batting on 23 off 22 and had held the innings together up to that point.

Fargana took a single off the first ball of the last over, before three wickets – one of them a run-out – fell in the next three balls. O’Reilly then bowled a dot on the fifth ball and conceded two off the last one to close out the match. Ireland’s hard-fought six-run victory gave them a 1-0 lead in the two-match T20I series.