The boundary ropes are a bit further in the Women’s Premier League than they were at the recent T20 World Cup, and one has to wonder how big a factor that is in the frequent 200+ scores in the tournament so far.
Three of the first five matches have seen the team batting first breach the 200-run mark. These scores were rare in the ICC event in South Africa, and came in matches featuring teams with a gulf in class. Often totals of 170 or more were difficult to chase.
Maybe, it’s the flatter pitches that have taken scores to another level. On Monday, Mumbai Indians had just 156 to get against Royal Challengers Bangalore, and Hayley Matthews and Nat Sciver-Brunt ensured they overhauled their target in only 14.2 overs.
On Tuesday at the DY Patil Stadium, it was two Aussies – Meg Lanning and Jess Jonassen – who came to the fore as Delhi Capitals amassed 211/4 and dispatched UP Warriorz by 42 runs.
One doesn’t associate Lanning with big hitting, but she usually finds a way. Shabnim Ismail, who missed the first game, was generating some heat in the first few overs, but the Australia captain took her on and even if a bit fortuitously, got Capitals off to a flying start as the younger Shafali Verma took a backseat. Lanning’s 70 off 42 balls, with 10 fours and three sixes, was the main reason Capitals reached 62/0 after the Powerplay. A brief rain interruption did little to curb their momentum, even if Marizanne Kapp and Alice Capsey only played short and sweet cameos.
Jonassen and Jemimah Rodrigues provided the required finishing kick with an unbeaten stand of 67 in just 34 balls. The left-handed Australian showcased her power-hitting while the young India used her inventiveness and intelligence to find the boundary or turn over the strike.
The first two balls of the chase, bowled by Kapp to Alyssa Healy, were pulled to the midwicket boundary, but the ask was much too steep and once Jonassen got two wickets – those of Healy and the dangerous Kiran Navgire – in her first over, the writing was very much on the wall. Tahlia McGrath ploughed a lone furrow, but it was never going to be enough. Her unbeaten 90 off 50 balls featured 11 fours and four sixes, but a lion’s share of those hits came when the outcome of the match was, more or less, decided.
