The UAE and Bangladesh recorded wins over the Netherlands and Papua New Guinea respectively as Group A began today at the Women's World T20 Qualifier in the Netherlands.

The hosts took on the UAE in Utrecht, and the recent expansion of T20I status to all women's teams meant that 18 players were making their T20I debut. Dutch captain Heather Siegers won the toss and chose to bat first, and she opened the batting with Sterre Kalis. The captain was the first wicket to fall having scored 11, with the Dutch score on 18.

Kalis continued on, batting throughout the innings for the hosts and scored an unbeaten 88 from 68 balls. The next highest score for the Dutch was Denise Hannema's 23 as they scored 137-3. The UAE shared the bowling around, using 8 bowlers in all. Heena Hotchandani was the pick of the bunch, taking 2-18.

The UAE lost Esha Rohit for five early on in their reply, but soon got their chase back on track with Chaya Mungal and Nisha Ali putting on 110 for the second wicket. Caroline de Fouw - who at the age of 52 is the first person in their 50s to play a Twenty20 International - had Ali caught behind for 69, and then had Mughal stumped three balls later. De Fouw finished with 3-31.

The UAE hung on though with Chamani Seneviratna - who previously played for Sri Lanka - and Heena Hotchandani guiding the team home to a six wicket win with two balls to spare.

The other Group B match today saw recent Asia Cup winners Bangladesh take on Papua New Guinea at the VRA Ground in Amstelveen. Bangladesh captain Salma Khatun won the toss and put PNG in to bat, with the EAP qualifiers only able to make 84-6 from their 20 overs.

Bangladesh had no trouble chasing down their target, winning by 8 wickets in 14.5 overs. Shamima Sultana was the top scorer with 35.

Group A continues tomorrow with the hosts taking on Bangladesh and Papua New Guinea playing the UAE.