After stealing a whopping Rs 75 lakh deal from Delhi Capitals in the glitzy Women's Premier League (WPL) auction, Alice Capsey wreaked havoc with the bat to guide England to a four-wicket victory over Ireland in the Women's T20 World Cup tie on Monday (February 13).
Capsey hammered 10 fours during her blistering 22-ball 51 as England overhauled Ireland's lowly target of 106 with 34 balls to spare.
Chasing a meagre target, England lost their opener Sophia Dunkley for mere 4 runs in the very first over. But Capsey was in no mood to stop as she was going strong with a storm of boundaries to steer England to 69/1 at the end of powerplay.
Capsey's blitz however didn't last long as she was dismissed by Arlene Kelly in the second ball of the seventh over. Nat Sciver-Brunt, who was roped in for a whopping Rs 3.2 crore by Mumbai Indians in the WPL auctions, was seen taking the longest walk towards pavilion after scoring mere 5 runs. Skipper Heather Knight and wicketkeeper Amy Jones then contributed with 14 and 12 runs respectively as England huffed and puffed towards the target shortly.
Riding on Capsey's pyrotechnics England easily crossed the line, reaching 107/6 in 14.2 overs with Katherine Sciver-Brunt and Sophie Ecclestone remaining not out on 5 and 0 respectively. Meanwhile, Cara Murray snared 3/15 runs for the losing cause while Orla Prendergast and Arlene Kelly got one each for Ireland.
Earlier, the England spin trio of Ecclestone (3/13), Sarah Glenn (3/19) and Charlie Dean (2/26) wrecked havoc on the Ireland batters to skittle them out for 105 in 18.2 overs.
Opting to bat, Ireland suffered a batting collapse as they were stifled by the England spin trio. Only the top four Ireland batters could reach double-digit figures.
Ireland began on a decent note with Gaby Lewis (36) and Amy Hunter (15) stitching 35 runs from 5.1 overs before the latter got dismissed. They were still in a decent situation when Lewis was out in the third ball of the 13th to be 80/3. But soon, Ireland fizzled out as they lost seven wickets for just 25 runs in 5.5 overs (35 balls).
Lewis was the top-scorer for Ireland and her 37-ball 36 had five fours. The opening stand involving Lewis and Hunter was the highest for Ireland.
Ecclestone, who was signed by UP Warriorz in the WPL auctions, grabbed back-to-back wickets in 13th over which saw Lewis and Eimear Richardson (0) returning to pavilion but failed to take hat-trick. She also bagged an important wicket of Ireland skipper Laura Delany for 12. Meanwhile, Lauren Bell and Katherine Sciver-Brunt also took a wicket apiece for the winners.
