MATCH STORIES
Follow Us“We may perhaps be slightly over-reliant on spinners, but I feel that’s probably the one area where if we get that right, we can take the competition on,” said UP Warriorz’s head coach Jon Lewis before the start of the 2024 Women’s Premier League. Last season, the Warriorz spinners took 42 wickets, which was the second-highest among all sides in the competition.
The Women in Yellow came with a similar strategy this year but things have gone as planned. With Sophie Ecclestone, Deepti Sharma, Rajeshwari Gayakwad, Grace Harris and Chamari Athapaththu in their line-up, UP have bowled 95.3 overs of spin in six games, almost 30 more than the second-most. But that has also made them a bit predictable.
19 against Gujarat Giants, followed by 17 against RCB, the Warriorz came into this match against Mumbai Indians on Thursday (March 7) having bowled 36 overs of spin in their last two encounters. Even tonight, UP delivered 18 overs of spin but ended up getting outclassed by Nat Sciver-Brunt and Amelia Kerr who are two of the best batters of spin bowling in world cricket.
Tahlia McGrath was dropped from the XI after the first three games, and skipper Alyssa Healy started the bowling with Harris against Gujarat and Athapaththu against Bangalore. But tonight against Mumbai, UP decided to drop out-of-form Anjali Sarvani and went with just one seamer - Saima Thakor, giving the new ball to Harris and Athapaththu.
The two international all-rounders started well, with Athapaththu dismissing Hayley Matthews and Yastika Bhatia inside four overs. Mumbai were 26/2 at the end of five overs but that’s when Gayakwad was asked to finish the powerplay and the left-arm spinner gave a couple of freebies to Nat Sciver-Brunt who converted them into boundaries.
Mumbai captain Harmanpreet Kaur (30-ball 33) never looked too comfortable but Nat Sciver-Brunt and Kerr had little trouble dealing with UP’s spinners. The latter two didn’t bat together but had a similar approach, which was to use square boundaries.
Nat Sciver-Brunt hit eight fours in her 31-ball 45 and five of those came inside the first two deliveries of the over. The all-rounder from England was the first MI batter to put pressure on the Warriorz spinners and allowed Kaur to take her time at the other end. Nat Sciver-Brunt perished in the 12th over but only after registering her highest score of this season.
Kerr (23-ball 39) then took over and put on 43 runs with S Sajana (14-ball 22*) to help MI finish on a high. It wasn’t surprising to see Nat Sciver-Brunt and Kerr dominate spin like they did tonight. While the former has an average of 61.39 and a strike rate of 144.1 against spin in the WPL, Kerr too has almost identical numbers - 51.25 and 140.4.
There are only six batters in the WPL with an average of more than 50 and a strike rate of above 140 against spin and Nat Sciver-Brunt and Kerr are two of them. The two can cut, flick and sweep and these were the three shots on display against Ecclestone and Co. To be honest, they were helped by some mediocre bowling.
Ecclestone (0/30) went wicketless for the first time in the WPL, but it’s the form of Deepti and Gayakwad that has hurt UP the most. While Deepti has operated at an average of 44 and an economy of 8, Gayakwad has claimed only five wickets @ 38.4 and an economy rate of 9.1.
Amongst spinners who have bowled at least 10 overs in this year’s WPL, five of them have an average of more than 38 and four of them are from the Warriorz. Meanwhile, Gayakwad also has the worst economy this season. 1/34, 0/43, 1/33 and 1/38 - this is what the left-arm spinner has done in her last four games.
Overall, for what was supposed to be their strength, UP have the worst average (32) and strike rate (24.9) in the spin department this season. They simply haven’t picked up enough wickets. A lack of quality seamer has also hurt them, forcing Healy to use spin across all phases. To make things worse, Deepti and Gayakwad have been way below-par.
Spinners often dominate in women’s cricket but you still need variety and we saw that when Mumbai came to defend 160. Saika Ishaque, Matthews and Sajana scalped five wickets between them but it was Shabnim Ismail who set the tone with the new ball. The pacer from South Africa picked up only one wicket but conceded just six runs in her four overs.
Now, the Warriorz don’t have an international pacer in their line-up, so they can forget about having variety in their attack. What they do have is a good spin unit, at least on paper, but if they keep performing the way they have been performing, UP can say goodbye to their knockout chances.
