Women's T20 World Cup: New Zealand thrash Bangladesh to keep slim semi-final hopes alive

New Zealand kept their slim Women's T20 World Cup semi-final hopes alive with a thumping 71-run win over Bangladesh.

Opener Suzie Bates' sublime 81 not out from 61 balls propelled the White Ferns to 189-3 in Cape Town.

In reply, Bangladesh struggled to keep up with the run rate throughout as they reached 118-8.

New Zealand now need to beat Sri Lanka heavily and hope South Africa lose to Bangladesh and Australia to reach the semi-finals.

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The White Ferns slumped to heavy defeats against Australia and South Africa in their opening two games but responded by posting the tournament's highest first-innings score so far and the joint fourth-highest total in the history of the competition.

Opener Bates made ducks in those defeats but provided a timely reminder of why she is one of the world's most accomplished batters, scoring all around the ground and finding the ropes of Newlands' huge boundaries with ease.

In the process, Bates became the leading run-scorer in Women's T20 World Cups with 1,010 runs, overtaking Australia's Meg Lanning.

Fellow opener Bernadine Bezuidenhout added 44 in an opening stand of 77 in 8.4 overs that set a platform for Maddy Green to pummel 44 from 20 balls at the death.

But concerns remain around the form of captain Sophie Devine, who registered her second first-ball duck of the tournament when she was bowled by Fahima Khatun.

With a formidable total to defend, New Zealand's bowlers also responded with confidence as Bangladesh's batters struggled throughout their chase, with Shorna Akter and Murshida Khatun the only batters to find any fluency as they scored 31 and 30 respectively.

It remains a huge task for New Zealand to qualify, with a battle between themselves, Sri Lanka and South Africa for the second semi-final spot behind leaders Australia.