MATCH STORIES
Follow UsWhen Shabnim Ismail picked up three wickets in the last game against Gujarat Giants, Marizanne Kapp was ecstatic. After all, why won’t she be? They have shared the new ball for South Africa for most of their careers.
Yesterday, when Ismail erased the smile from Beth Mooney and her team’s face, Kapp tweeted about how she missed opening the bowling. Today, when she ended her spell against the UP Warriorz (UPW), all fans watching her would have echoed sentiments similar to those in the tweet.
The reason? Check the scorecard of today’s game.
Since 2021 in all the T20s that Kapp has played, she feasts on right-handed batters. Her average in this period is just 20.5, and she takes a wicket every 20.4 delivery. This record gets even better in the powerplay as Kapp gives three runs less per wicket in the phase.
UPW head coach Jon Lewis and skipper Alyssa Healy would have known about this. They would have known that even in the last WPL, Kapp was on fire in the powerplay, which allowed her to pick eight wickets in the season at an average of 15.4.
Hence, her three victims today - Healy herself, Vrinda Dinesh and Tahlia McGrath - all of whom are right handed batters, knew what was coming. They knew she’d target the off stump. They knew she’d get the ball move from the fuller side of a good length. They knew they’d not get a lot of room to play a shot. They knew they’d have to be solidly behind the ball even if they were dancing down the track trying to make room.
But still, all three became prisoners of some ‘Kapp’tivating class.
Vrinda Dinesh had played four dot balls after opening the innings. She still had to open her account. Only one run had come in the first over. The pressure was high. Kapp wasn’t going to help her. God helps those who help themselves, after all. So Vrinda Dinesh tried.
But Kapp bowled it wide, on a good length, and asked the Bengaluru girl to try and hit her. All Vrinda managed after reaching out and slicing the ball uppishly was a simple catch to Shikha Pandey who was at third.
The first kill was completed. However, the lioness still wasn’t content. Hunger was visible in her eyes.
Kapp followed that dismissal with four consecutive dot balls to McGrath. She displayed excellent outswing with the new ball, and the tentative prodding and pushing were futile.
2 overs. 1 run. 1 wicket.
The next ball Kapp bowled to McGrath was in the fifth over, and it would have made Shabnim Ismail salivate.
It was bowled on a hard length, on the off-stump line, and slightly angled in. McGrath rightly thought that going on the back foot and defending was the more prudent option. However, the ball didn’t come in as much as tall Tahlia thought. It held its line and crashed into her off stump while her bat stayed frozen beside the line of the ball as if telling everyone that the batter wasn’t at fault.
The ball was just too good. Marizanne Kapp was just too good. The second victim was done and dusted.
Grace Harris changed strike on the third ball of that over, and Healy played the next two balls as dots. She was beaten by Kapp’s outswing on both occasions. Healy was losing her patience. Her team had scored only 16 in 29 balls by then, and Kapp’s brilliance already consumed two batters. She would try to make room and somehow hit the last ball.
She shouldn’t have done that.
The ball was pitched on a good length and shaped away. Healy skipped down the track and went hard at it. But Kapp was again too good. Because of the shape away, she miscued the ball with the toe end of her bat and was caught at extra cover. Khatam (Over). Tata. Bye Bye.
Kapp’s next over, her first outside the powerplay, saw just one run scored.
It was so hard to hit Kapp even when she wasn’t busy obliterating batters, so UP’s batting never got the momentum to score a competitive total. Her accuracy and ability to move the ball at the beginning of the innings allowed the Capitals to get their spinners in the game, who aren’t the strongest department for Meg Lanning’s side. Radha Yadhav picked up four to finish the job as UPW finished their innings for just 119/9 in 20 overs.
Image credit - Delhi Capitals
In the end, this is what Kapp’s spell looked like -
0,0,0,0,1,0
0,W,0,0,0,0
W,0,1,0,0,W
0,1,0,0,1,1
4 overs.1 maiden. 5 runs. 3 wickets = A win.
Marizanne Kapp has arrived in WPL 2024.
