3 minute read
Australian Grace Harris has served up a remarkable last over to give UP Warriorz a one-run win over Delhi Capitals in a nail-biting WPL match.
Grace Harris urged her Australia captain Alyssa Healy to let her bowl the death over of a thrilling Women's Premier League match in India and it paid off handsomely as their UP Warriorz edged Meg Lanning's Delhi Capitals by a single run.
Going into the final over with home side Delhi Capitals on 7-129, needing just 10 to win, allrounder Harris was desperate to put her hand up to bowl the nerve-racking final over after a quiet match at the Arun Jaitley Stadium.
"I can't use some of the words that I used out in the middle to Midgey (Healy), but I kinda said 'Midgey, what the heck, it's the last over - and I haven't bowled all this game!" explained Harris, who's become one of the great characters of the WPL.
"Defending 10, I knew what I kind of wanted to bowl - and I was just really happy that I executed in that way."
It turned out to be an extraordinary denouement. First ball, it looked as if Harris had Radha Yadav caught at deep midwicket, but boundary fielder Poonam Khemnar had moved too far in and could only palm the ball over the rope for six.
Next ball, when Harris bowled a high full toss, she was hit for two and admitted she was lucky not to be called for a no ball.
Still, the odds had switched in Delhi's favour, with just two runs needed off four balls.
But Harris started to work her magic. First, she bowled Yadav, who got an inside edge while trying to hoik the winning runs, before her Aussie international colleague Jess Jonassen got run out next ball trying desperately to get on strike.
Off the penultimate ball, Harris had Titas Sadhu caught at mid-on by Dani Wyatt to seal what had looked a wholly unlikely win, with Harris finishing with 2-8 off her five balls.
"I wasn't really nervous or anything, which shocks me, because there wasn't a lot of expectations on my bowling in that last over for myself. But I'm really happy with the win - that's hilarious!" beamed Harris, who's now second in the league's Most Valuable Player table for the season.
Harris revealed she hadn't been feeling well either, but she must have felt better than home skipper Lanning, the former Australia captain who had looked set to earn a fourth straight WPL win over her successor Healy until Delhi's late collapse.
Lanning herself had laid a solid foundation for her side as usual, scoring 60 off 46 balls in the chase to regain her position as the holder of the orange cap as top run-scorer in the competition.
She blamed herself for getting out when well set.
"I feel like I was the set batter and probably needed to take it a little bit deeper than put pressure on other batters coming in. So that was a bit of a turning point. Very frustrating ... but I shouldn't put the team in that position."
The player of the match was the Warriorz' Indian star Deepti Sharma, who followed up her 48-ball 59 with match-winning figures of 4-19, including the league's second ever hat-trick.
