Perry’s scorching WPL knock not enough as Aussie goes down in super over

Ellyse Perry struck a magnificent unbeaten 90 off 56 balls but finished on the losing side as Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) was beaten by UP Warriorz in a super over in the Women’s Premier League (WPL).

RCB made 6-180, but UP Warriorz matched it, getting bowled out for 180 on the final ball after Sophie Ecclestone clubbed 17 off the last over.

That forced a super over which seemed certain to go the home side’s way when Australia’s Kim Garth conceded only eight.

But RCB decided not to send out Perry to bat, despite her superb form having also hit 81 on Friday.

She could only watch from the sidelines as England spinner Ecclestone restricted RCB to four runs to earn the team from Uttar Pradesh an improbable victory.

“As a team, really have to tell [Perry] we are sorry. It was brilliant to watch her batting. How could we not win that game for her,” said RCB captain Smriti Maharana.

Well-supported by England’s Danni Wyatt-Hodge (57 off 41), Perry looked as if she might become the first WPL centurion when she took 16 off the penultimate over.

But in a foretaste of what was to come, she and Garth could only manage six off the final one, bowled by Ecclestone, and ultimately she had to settle for equalling the fourth highest score, Tahlia McGrath’s 90* made in 2023.

Perry, who hit nine fours and three sixes, scoring all around the wicket, has now made two of the WPL’s top 10 scores within four days.

Warriorz began rapidly in pursuit, being 1-48 off 26 balls, but then began to lose wickets. Perry, bowling for the first time in the competition as she manages a hip injury, took 1-10 off two tight overs.

Garth and Georgia Wareham were more expensive, both going for 40 off their four overs, but Garth did take two wickets including that of Grace Harris for eight.

Harris, fresh off a hat-trick in her last outing, had a less happy day out, bowling one over for 11. She began with a full toss that Wyatt-Hodge lofted for six. She then induced a false cut shot only for the English batter, then on 10, to be badly dropped at point.

Warriorz’s other Australian McGrath fared equally badly. She took 1-30 from three overs and was stumped for a four-ball duck.

It, however, finished on the winning side, unlike the luckless Perry for all her brilliance.

AAP