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Bell And Smith Reign Victorious In WPL As RCB Win By Six Wickets
Bell And Smith Reign Victorious In WPL As RCB Win By Six Wickets
Excellent bowling from Lauren Bell deemed critical for Royal Challengers Bengaluru in their record run chase for their second WPL title.
Hampshire’s Lauren Bell and Linsey Smith claimed RCB’s second WPL title in three years yesterday evening, defeating Delhi Capitals by six wickets having completed a record run chase of 204, subjecting the Delhi Capitals to their fourth successive final defeat.
Royal Challengers Bengaluru captain Smriti Mandhana contributed with an impressive 87 from 41 balls and in partnership with Georgia Voll’s 79 from 54, the pair achieved a record-breaking total of 165 off 92 in a partnership that saw Mandhana finish as the tournament’s highest run-scorer with 377 runs. Their partnership ended at a nervy time for RCB when Voll was given her marching orders from the crease with just 30 runs required. Her replacement Richa Ghosh followed suit just seven balls later before Mandhana’s dismissal in the penultimate over set-up a nail-biting finish for the eventual winners.
Fast bowler Lauren Bell excelled in the final, conceding just 19 runs in four overs to limit the Delhi Capitals’ run rate, making the record-breaking chase achievable. Her captain Smriti Mandhana was full of praise for her performance in the final.
“I’m very pleased. Three titles as a franchise [two women’s and one men’s] in the past three years is amazing. We knew 200-plus was a good score but we pulled it back in the final four overs and I want to say Lauren Bell, to concede 19 in four overs, that was a match-winning spell.”
Smriti Mandhana, RCB captain
The Delhi Capitals set the highest score in a WPL final of 203-4, comfortably clearing Mumbai Indian’s 149-7 last year. Captain Jemimah Rodrigues scored highest for the Capitals when she was given out having scored 57 from 37 while South African batter Laura Wolvaardt also contributed with 44 from 25.
Bell impressed for RCB all throughout the tournament, finishing with 12 wickets, a staggering 128 dot balls and the best economy rate (5.53) across the competition. Delighted with winning the WPL, Bell reflected on an incredible experience out in India:
“It was a bit tense but I’m just glad we’ve got over the line. What a game of cricket. It was up and down - there were good patches and not so good patches but we got over the line. I’ve absolutely loved the whole month. I couldn’t have asked for a better experience.”
Lauren Bell, Hampshire and RCB bowler
Linsey Smith, who played as a part of the RCB squad throughout the tournament, did not feature in the final.
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Celebrate 25 years of The Bowl with a retro party night as Hampshire Hawks face Surrey at Utilita Bowl on Friday 29 May, featuring live music, throwback fun and Vitality Blast action.
England head into the ICC T20 World Cup in formidable form after a dominant white-ball tour of Sri Lanka, winning the ODI series 2-1 before sealing a 3-0 clean sweep in the T20Is.
