A chase that looked as good as done suddenly burst alive with a Sophie Ecclestone cameo, leading to the first-ever Super Over in the history of the Women’s Premier League.
Less than an hour later, Ecclestone played clutch with the ball, edging UP Warriorz past Royal Challengers Bengaluru in the latter’s home ground.
When Georgia Wareham stepped on her bowling mark ahead of the 17th over, UP Warriorz had pushed themselves to 139-8. They needed 41 from the last three, with Chinelle Henry, presumably the only one who could have done it for them from that point, dragging one onto her stumps the previous over.
But Ecclestone wasn’t letting go just yet: she smashed her joint third-highest score in T20s, hitting four sixes – the most she has in an innings. Two of those came in a row off Wareham, keeping the Warriorz alive.
When Saima Thakor, their No.10, danced out of her crease to hit the first six of her T20 career, the equation came down to 20 off the final eight. The Chinnaswamy Stadium, bubbling with red shirts, was stunned into silence, with a tiny section of UP fans finally finding their voices. The tables seemingly turned again the very next ball, as Thakor perished in an attempt to sneak two, leaving the Warriorz nine down.
With 18 needed off the final six, Ecclestone crucially kept strike.
Match 9, Royal Challengers Bengaluru vs UP Warriorz
vs
- Ball by ball Over
Renuka Singh decided to go wide, escaping with a dot first up, but the next one was a loose full-toss on the body, which Ecclestone sent over deep square leg. To correct her course, she sent down a slower one next, but it gave her enough time to stay put and crack it over midwicket. The seemingly improbable was happening.
Next ball, Renuka went short and wide again – Ecclestone gave a hard slash, bisecting short third man and backward point to squeeze out four more. Seemingly down and out at 134-8 in the 17th, UP Warriorz now needed two off two.
Off the penultimate ball, Ecclestone crucially got only a single, leaving the No.11 Kranti Goud with one run to take them over the line.
However, it wasn’t to be.
In scenes similar to MS Dhoni’s last-ball run out in 2016, at this very ground, Richa Ghosh ran with the ball in hand and ran out Ecclestone, beating her in a sprinting competition to set up the first Super Over in the three seasons.
Ecclestone returned not long after, bat in hand again, after Henry fell three balls into the Super Over. Henry failed to make a clean connection off Kim Garth’s smart, wide offerings and fell off the third (for the second time in the game). There were no boundaries this time, with the Warriorz managing only eight.
RCB, curiously, did not opt to open with Ellyse Perry, who had earlier starred with an unbeaten 56-ball 90, eclipsing Meg Lanning on the all-time WPL run charts. Richa Ghosh took strike alongside captain Smriti Mandhana, with Ecclestone (who else) ready for one final act.
Ghosh and Mandhana just couldn’t attack Ecclestone, with the RCB captain surviving a close lbw call too. In the end, the No.1 ranked T20I bowler prevailed, giving just four runs in all. By the time the celebrations were complete, most of the stands had already emptied. The small section of UP fans, including families, stayed put until much after, flapping yellow flags in the land of red.
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