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Wolvaardt, Mooney set Gujarat Giants up for first WPL win

cricket06 March 2024 18:10| © MWP
By:Ross Roche
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Laura Wolvaardt © @wplt20 (X)

Laura Wolvaardt and Beth Mooney set the Gujarat Giants up for their first win of the Women’s Premier League at their fifth attempt, as they beat the Royal Challengers Bangalore by 19 runs in their match at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi on Wednesday night.

Having won the toss and chosen to bat first Wolvaardt smashed 13 fours in scoring 76 off 45 balls, while Mooney carried her bat to finish unbeaten on 85 off 51 having cracked 12 fours and one six, as their 140-run opening partnership set the platform for their total of 199/5.

The Royal Challengers were never really in the chase as their top order got starts but weren’t able to kick on, and only got that close thanks to a swashbuckling 48 off 22 balls, featuring six fours and two sixes, from the bat of Georgia Wareham towards the end of the innings, as they finished on 180/8.

Ashleigh Gardner was the pick of the bowlers with 2-23 in her four overs, while there were four run outs in the Royal Challengers innings, to go with three in the Gujarat innings, for a whopping seven run outs out of the 13 wickets over the match.

The Royal Challengers' chase got off to a decent start as Smriti Mandhana, 24 off 16 (2x4, 2x6), got stuck in early, but she was trapped LBW by Gardner in the fifth over and was followed by her opening partner Sabbhineni Meghana (4), run out two overs later as they slipped to 42/2 in the seventh.

Ellyse Perry (24) and Sophie Devine, 23 off 16 (1x4. 2x6) shared 34 for the third wicket before Devine was bowled by Tanuja Kanwar at the start of the 11th over leaving them on 76/3.

Perry struggled to get the ball away during her 23-ball innings and she was then fourth to fall as she edged Kathryn Bryce to keeper Mooney with the score 96/4 at the start of the 14th.

Richa Ghosh, 30 off 21 (5x4, 1x6) and Wareham looked to set their side on a late charge as they added 35 runs off 17 balls for the fifth wicket, but when Ghosh skied a hip-high full toss from Gardner to Meghna Singh at cover, at 129/5 after 16 overs it left Wareham with too much to do on her own.

FLYING START FOR GIANTS

In the first innings the Giants got off to a flying start as Wolvaardt and Mooney plundered boundaries at will during the powerplay, as they raced to 59/0 by the end of it with Wolvaardt on 32 and Mooney on 19.

Heading to the halfway stage Wolvaardt then took aim at Perry in the 10th over, smashing three fours in a row at the start of the over, second which took her to a 32-ball half century, and the third which took them over the hundred run mark.

In the 13th over a three off the bat of Mooney saw her reach her 50, also off 32 balls, but the final ball of the over saw the breakthrough as Wolvaardt was run out going for a quick single after some top work from Ekta Bisht at backward point and keeper Ghosh.

Phoebe Litchfield (18) and Mooney then shared in a 52-run second wicket partnership as they cruised to 192/1 in the 19th over, before Litchfield’s run out sparked a mini-collapse as four wickets fell for seven runs over the final 10 balls of the innings.

GUJARAT GIANTS: Beth Mooney (capt & wk), Laura Wolvaardt, Phoebe Litchfield, Veda Krishnamurthy, Dayalan Hemalatha, Ashleigh Gardner, Kathryn Bryce, Tanuja Kanwar, Meghna Singh, Mannat Kashyap, Shabnam Shakil

ROYAL CHALLENGERS BANGALORE: Sabbhineni Meghana, Smriti Mandhana (capt), Ellyse Perry, Richa Ghosh (wk), Sophie Devine, Georgia Wareham, Sophie Molineux, Ekta Bisht, Simran Bahadur, Asha Sobhana, Renuka Singh

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