Navi Mumbai: An attacking half-century by captain Meg Lanning (70 off 42) along with vital cameos by Jess Jonassen (42 not out off 20) and Jemimah Rodrigues (34 not out off 22) powered Delhi Capitals to 211/4 against UP Warriorz in a Women’s Premier League 2023 (WPL) match at the Dr DY Patil Sports Academy, here on Tuesday.
Apart from Lanning, Jonassen and Rodrigues, the likes of Alice Capsey (21), Shafali Verma (17), Marizanne Kapp (16) got starts but couldn’t score big.
Put into bat first, openers Shafali Verma and Meg Lanning gave Delhi Capitals a flying start. Both batters started from where they left in the previous contest and played some sublime shots to score 62 runs in the powerplay overs.
However, soon after Power-play, Tahlia McGrath was introduced into the attack and she gave UP Warriorz instant success by dismissing Shafali (17 off 14), courtesy a splendid catch by Kiran Navgire at deep square leg.
After Shafali’s wicket, Marizanne Kapp joined Lanning at the crease as Delhi continued their attacking approach. To stop the run flow, UP skipper Alyssa Healy brought world No. 1 spinner Sophie Ecclestone into the attack and she started with a couple of dots against Meg Lanning before being hit for a six towards the backward square leg region as the Delhi captain completed her half-century in 32 balls.
Lanning was carrying the momentum for Delhi before rain interrupted the proceedings. After the 20-minute halt, the play was resumed and Kapp hit Deepti Sharma for a boundary and collected nine runs coming off her over but she couldn’t continue longer and got out to Ecclestone in the 11th over.
Despite wickets falling from the other end, Lanning was not hesitant in continuing her aggressive approach as she hit Ecclestone for back-to-back boundaries before Rajeshwari Gayakwad cleaned her up.
Alice Capsey, who came to bat next, dealt in boundaries and along with Jemimah Rodrigues steadied Delhi’s ship. However, Shabnim Ismail in her comeback spell dismissed Capsey to give UP some reprieve in the game. But, Jess Jonassen and Jemimah had other ideas.
The pair took some time to assess the condition before playing their shots with Jonassen hitting three sixes and three boundaries to play a blinder at the death. Rodrigues too played her part to perfection with some timely boundaries and was involved in an unbeaten 67-run partnership with Jonassen as Delhi Capitals posted a strong total of 211 for 4 in 20 overs.
Brief scores: Delhi Capitals 211/4 in 20 overs (Meg Lanning 70, Jess Jonassen 42 not out, Jemimah Rodrigues 34 not out; Shabnim Ismail 1/29) vs UP Warriorz
(IANS)
