WBBL ROUNDUP
Follow UsMaiden titles are always special, especially when they come after a decade of playing in the competition and being the underdogs throughout. That’s why it wasn't just a big moment in their history when Melbourne Renegades defeated the Brisbane Heat in the final of the Women’s Big Bash League (WBBL). It was a big moment for the league itself.
Even when viewed as a whole, it was a very happening season Down Under this time, as teams put up and chased totals north of 140 on many occasions. As many as six Indians participated in it, along with many other international stars. While Ellyse Perry continued her dominance in the league by topping the batting charts, some young Australian stars emerged as constellations in their cricketing sky.
So, how did the Indian players fare eventually?
Overall speaking, the Indian contingent had a decent outing. Apart from Deepti Sharma (who didn’t get much opportunity to show her skills for the Melbourne Stars) and Dayalan Hemalatha (who failed to impress with the bat for the Perth Scorchers), the Indian players did quite well in the league.
Jemimah Rodrigues not only played the most number of games amongst the Indians (as the Heat reached the final), but also was the best performer with the bat. She scored 267 runs in 10 innings at an average of 33.36 and a strike rate of 139.1.
Her strike rate was so good that for players with more than 250 runs in the league, only Lizelle Lee and Georgia Voll scored at a better strike rate than her. What would please the Indian contingent in these numbers is her non-boundary scoring shot % (NBSS), which is the fourth-best in the league.
Combine it with the percentage of 2s she took (the third highest in the league), and it’s clear that Jemimah is a very unique T20 batter — she doesn’t only score through boundaries. Still, her running between the wickets is also so good that the team's run rate keeps rising when she's on the crease.
Meanwhile, Smriti Mandhana also looked to bat aggressively after arriving late in the league. She batted for five innings and scored 144 runs at a strike rate of 142.6. She looked to get the boundaries early for the Strikers, and her high boundary % (68) was a testament that her methods did bore results. That wasn’t enough for the Strikers, as they finished seventh on the points table with only three wins in 10 games.
Yastika Bhatia’s season was abruptly punctuated by an injury. However, she had begun the season well earlier, scoring 154 runs in six innings at an average of 25.66 and strike rate of 104.88. Her wrist injury has also put her out of the crucial three-match ODI series against Australia, which begins December 5 in Brisbane.
Dayalan Hemalatha was the most disappointing Indian batter overall. She failed to repay the Scorchers' faith in her as their overseas draft pick.
However, the only Indian specialist bowler in the WBBL, Shikha Pandey, was great with the ball. She picked 12 wickets in 12 innings at an economy of just 6.9 and had a bowling strike rate of 21 for the Heat. She led their pace attack with a lot of responsibility; however, she still remains out of favour with the Indian selectors.
Who were the other international stars who gave great performances?
Hayley Matthews is the most inevitable player in women’s T20 cricket currently. While her batting ability and ceiling are almost as high as any batter in the game, her off-spin is handy enough to chip away with wickets almost every time she holds the ball.
In this edition of the WBBL, she stood like a wall for the Renegades with the bat. In the final, she scored 69 off 61 in her team’s total of 141 and then was the best bowler with 2/24 in her three overs. Overall, she scored 324 runs in 10 innings at an average of 49.5 and a strike rate of 130.64.
While Ellyse Perry and Beth Mooney were the top and third-best run scorers in the league, another Australian batter made head turns massively with her performance.
Phoebe Litchfield might only be 21 years old, but the might and maturity of her talent are that of a seasoned veteran. She captained Sydney Thunder like a born leader and scored 342 runs (the fourth most in the league) at an average of 28.5 and a strike rate of 133.07. By the way, this was after she batted in the middle order, and she kept pressing on the accelerator.
With the ball, the slow left-arm spinner Samantha Bates was a sensation in the season, picking the joint most number of wickets (20) in the tournament along with Alana King. For a traditional left-arm spinner to have such an impact in Australia is rare, and with a performance like that for the Thunder, the 29-year-old might have impressed the right people in the Australian setup.
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