The South African women’s team might want to write a petition to their cricket board to make them play their matches in Bengaluru, the next time they tour.
Two nights in a row, two protean women have made their night their own at the Women’s Premier League. If Shabnim Ismail derailed the Gujarat Giants innings on Sunday night, it was the turn of one of her bowling partners from the days as an active South African cricketer’s turn to shine under the Chinnaswamy lights on Monday evening.
Marizanne Kapp was Delhi Capitals’ second-highest wicket-taker when the first edition of the tournament was held in Mumbai in 2023 and despite the record purchase of Annabel Sutherland at the auction held in December, she kept her place in the playing XI as DC opted to have Jess Jonassen among the reserves.
On Monday, the South African reiterated her worth with a spell that would be hard to replicate in the remainder of the tournament. On a fresh pitch at the venue, the 34-year-old claimed figures of 4-0-5-3, which put DC in the ascendancy inside the opening Powerplay.
Kapp claimed the wickets of Vrinda Dinesh, Tahlia McGrath and Alyssa Healy in an opening Powerplay burst that left the Warriorz reeling at 21 for 3 after six overs and exposing the young Indian middle-order earlier than what Healy and the management would have liked.
While Dinesh and Healy fell caught by Shikha Pandey and Shafali Verma respectively, it was the wicket of McGrath, whose footage Kapp might wish to take with her to remind herself of how good she can be on her day.
McGrath is the second ranked T20I batter in the world and has a tight technique, where she likes to play with a straight bat against both pace and spin, using the straight boundaries to good effect while taking the aerial route.
On Monday, however, the straightness of the bat was near perfect, but her defence had been beaten by a ball that seamed away sharply after pitching on middle stump and hit the top of off stump.
𝙏𝙤𝙥 𝙤𝙛 𝙤𝙛𝙛 𝙨𝙩𝙪𝙢𝙥 🔥🔥
— Women's Premier League (WPL) (@wplt20) February 26, 2024
Marizanne Kapp gets Tahlia McGrath 💪#UPW three down inside the powerplay 🤯
Match Centre 💻📱https://t.co/YnKaBW7IeD#TATAWPL | #UPWvDC pic.twitter.com/5RgiH6iWzE
Two nights back, Healy had fallen in a similar manner after a ball from Royal Challengers Bangalore left-arm spinner Sophie Molineux had spun and hit the off stump. On that occasion, one could excuse Healy as the pitch used for that game was a used surface and had predictably started to take turns due to the wear and tear caused by just 30 overs of bowling.
On Monday, McGrath fell to a similar ball that moved away sharply and almost unexpectedly, and even had stand rooted with bat face dead straight after the ball had struck timber. Batters like to take videos of some of their best performances with them that would serve as a reminder as to how well they can play, when stuck in a rut.
Whether she is playing for South Africa or in franchise cricket or anywhere around the world, that ball to McGrath might carry with her to relieve the good times. As the Australian walked back to the hut, unwrapping her gloves with her bat tugged under the armpit, she may have felt that had she been batting on 150 that ball might still have been good enough to send her back to the pavilion.
After the dismissal, Kapp had a smile on her face, as would one expect, but her tongue was also wagging towards the right as if to say that she herself was surprised over how the ball had moved away to such an extent that it hit the off stump.
Kapp’s spell had well and truly brought the Monday blues for the Warriorz, who would have felt they had lost a crucial toss. It may have been a coin flip that could have saved them from the spell from hell by Kapp.
