'Comprehensive' would be a good way to describe the six-wicket victory with more than four overs to spare that propelled UP Warriorz to the third spot and their net run rate into positive. But it wasn't as easy as the scoreboard suggests. There were a few times in the game when the Warriorz had to wrest back the advantage when Gujarat Giants looked to assert their position. It was a game of tug-of-war but the Warriorz were strong enough to pull things in their favour and eventually finished with a dominating win.
The Giants got off to a good start after being asked to bat, with Laura Wolvaardt setting the tone as she struck five fours in the first four overs, timing her cuts, drives and sweeps as she tried to make the most of the fielding restrictions. Despite a slow start, Beth Mooney was starting to pick up pace with a couple of boundaries in the same period, including a reverse lap off the first ball from Sophie Ecclestone. But the English left-arm orthodox, who was the fifth bowler to be used inside the powerplay, quickly shifted the momentum in favour of the Warriorz.
With a flighted delivery, she drew Mooney out of the crease and had her mistiming a simple catch to mid-off. Skipper Alyssa Healy was mixing it around with the loaded spin attack, using Chamari Athapaththu, Deepti Sharma, Rajeshwari Gayakwad and Grace Harris to create pressure. Ecclestone then drew blood again with her flight and guile, having Wolvaardt also spoon a catch to mid-off. Ecclestone, though, was unfortunate not to dismiss Phoebe Litchfield in the 15th over as Deepti put down a sitter when the batter top-edged a reverse sweep.
It was a break that the Giants capitalised on to an extent, with Litchfield and a marauding Ashleigh Gardner raising a brisk half-century stand as they took their side to 135/3 in 18 overs. But then came Ecclestone for her final over and she bagged the important wicket of Gardner to finish with excellent figures of 3-20. Athapaththu's fine catch to dismiss Gardner and Saima Thakor's good work on the field to catch Litchfield short of the crease, somewhat made up Warriorz's fielding mishaps as they restricted Giants to 142 when they were looking good for a 155-160 score.
"We left one of the drives up most of the game and we were just trying to entice them to come down and hit those shots knowing that a lot of their players are quite strong square of the wicket," said Healy about the dismissals of the Giants openers.
Michael Klinger, the Giants head coach, said the openers tried to take advantage of mid-off being inside the circle but the execution didn't go well. "Beth and Laura out there, on both those occasions mid-off was up. Sophie is a good bowler, she's very smart. But we never tell them to stop backing themselves to get the game moving, and we needed to at that stage as well. The shot was on for both but they didn't quite execute it. So I've got no issues with their shots."
Healy's 21-ball 33 helped Warriorz race away in the chase but the Giants weren't going down without a fight. With Kiran Navgire and the captain falling in successive overs, the Giants opened up an avenue. Athapaththu's intent-filled start extended the gap again but her dismissal, followed by that of Shweta Sehrawat, left the Warriorz at 90/4 shortly after the halfway stage of the innings. They still needed to score at close to a run-a-ball, which didn't suggest much of a pressure situation, but further setbacks from there might have made things different.
But Harris didn't allow a comeback option for the Giants. She had already struck four fours and a six when she saw two batters depart from the other end, and she continued to explore scoring options to ensure the innings did not stagnate. Deepti took a while to get going before she hit two fours off Gardner. By that time, Harris had already struck a couple of boundaries and her second maximum, easing her team towards victory.
When she was done, finishing with an unbeaten 60 off only 33 deliveries, she had hit as many as nine fours to go with the two sixes, guiding her side to a comfortable win. Among the 12 fifty-plus scores in this WPL, Harris's strike rate of 181.81 was only bettered by Navgire's 183.87 against Mumbai Indians a few days back. In that game too, Harris was there at the end having scored an unbeaten 38 at a strike rate of 223.53.
"We want to play positive and proactive cricket and the way we started in that chase was outstanding. That's why we have players of the quality of Grace Harris in the middle order - to get us over the line - and she did that again tonight, which was pretty cool," Healy said, praising Harris for executing two perfect finishes for her team.
From the Giants' perspective, going with four overseas frontline batting options, along with the associate player in Kathryn Bryce, left their bowling understaffed. They strengthened their batting after finishing with below-par totals in their previous matches but the move didn't quite work out as the team hoped for. "It's a tough balance at the moment," admitted Klinger.
"I'll be honest with you, Our batting hasn't been quite strong going with three overseas and three locals. Because of that we had to make that change and that means we don't have an overseas quick in our lineup. So we have to back our locals with the ball and be very disciplined. When I say disciplined, bowl nice and straight and for us to really scrap in the field. For that first part of today, that didn't happen. We gave probably too many free boundaries to the opposition by bowling a little bit wide."
With three losses in as many games, the Giants are still trying to find their balance with the sand going steadily south in the hourglass. The Warriorz, on the other hand, have pulled their weight to be in a much better position than they were after two games.
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