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Henry’s onslaught, Harris and Goud’s dream spells get Warriorz off the mark

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1 year ago

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Chinelle Henry's 18-ball fifty was the joint-fastest across the WPL [BCCI]

Chinell Henry’s  late onslaught, uncapped seamer Kranti Goud’s four-wicket haul, Grace Harris’ last-over hat-trick. UP Warriorz had brilliant moments on the field and produced a thumping win over Delhi Capitals to finally get off the mark, in their third attempt, in WPL 2025. In the first reverse fixture of this season, Warriorz defended 177 by bowling Capitals out for 144 for a 33-run victory. They are also the first team to defend a total in this edition.

The Chinnaswamy Stadium came alive late in the first innings thanks to Henry’s fireworks. From 89 for 6, her entertaining 23-ball knock lifted Warriorz from a potential below-par total to a match-winning one. Striking at an astonishing 269.56, Henry smashed eight sixes and two fours to reach the joint fastes fifty, off 18 balls, in WPL history.

In the chase, Jemimah Rodrigue’s 56 held the fort but Capitals collapsed from 97 for 3 to 111 for 7 and couldn’t recover from the slide. Niki Prasad and Shika Pandey’s handy contributions at the death weren’t enough as Goud and Harris shared eight wickets between them to topple Capitals.

A player’s first season of the WPL could easily make or break her confidence, with performances being put under the microscope. Goud, 21, bowled just four overs in the first two matches in her debut WPL season. Warriorz lost both games and she leaked 47 runs. But Deepti Sharma persisted with her over India seamer Saima Thakor, who had to miss out the second time.

Goud quickly found her feet and repaid the team’s faith in the team’s first game in Bengaluru this season. She was hit for a first-ball four by Meg Lanning but, two balls later, nipped one back sharply to disturb the stumps of Capitals’ captain. She conceded just two off her next over, seventh overall, and dismissed Shafali Verma in her next over with a short delivery. Three overs, 16 runs and two wickets. When Goud finished her first spell, Capitals needed 126 runs from 66 balls.

When she came back for her final over, Capitals had to chase 76 off 36 with Rodrigues going strong after her fifty. But Goud had Jonassen caught and bowled and Rodrigues caught at extra cover in the same over to leave Capitals 111 for 6.

Deepti batted at No. 4 in the opening game, making a 27-ball 39. In the next two games, both against Capitals, she came in at No.3 and made a run-a-ball seven in Lucknow, and 13 off 19 balls in Bengaluru. Whether it’s the ideal slot for her is something to keep an eye on especially when the middle order isn’t firing.

In the last WPL, she accumulated 295 runs at a strike rate of 136.67 in eight innings. She came in at No.3 only once and scored 59. But mostly she batted in the middle order, where she remained unbeaten four out of five times and smashed 218 runs including two fifties, at a strike rate of 143.42.

In this WPL, the likes of Tahlia McGrath and Harris not stepping up in the middle order has been a concern for them. It has left Henry with a lot of rescue work to do late in the innings. In the last match, she blazed away an unbeaten 33 off 15 to power them to 166.

On Saturday, Henry came in at No.8 in the 14th over when Warriorz were 89 for 6 and straightaway dispatched two sixes off Reddy to ease some pressure. She then targeted Pandey, smashing a four and two sixes in the 17th over, and threw a few more big blows before eventually losing her wicket to Jonassen in the final ball of the innings.

Warriorz have been the worst team in the middle phase (from overs 7 to 16) this WPL, having lost 15 wickets in the three games including five on Saturday, but Henry’s unbelievable innings helped them fight back.

The ball was swinging and nipping at the start of the second innings, troubling the likes of Shafali and Lanning. But Warriorz were sloppy in the field, Thakor dropped two catches and wicketkeeper Uma Chetry failed to hold onto chances; however Goud pulled them back. Barring Rodrigues, none in the Capitals top seven was able to adapt to the conditions in Bengaluru.

Even Rodrigues took 19 balls to score her first 23 runs and once she found her rhythm, she grew in confidence and smashed eye-pleasing boundaries to the cover region. She raced to her first fifty of this season off 30 balls. And her eight fours and a six gave Capitals some hope but the middle order let the game slip away from them in the end.

In her own words, Harris is a batting allrounder. But she has not set the stage on fire in this WPL yet, scoring just 18 runs in three games. However, with the ball, she had picked up two wickets in her first two matches and levelled that up on Saturday. She first dismissed Capitals’ Player of the Match from last fixture, Annabel Sutherland, in the 14th over of the chase.

In the final over, with 34 needed for a win, Harris removed Prasad, Reddy and Minnu Manni off successive deliveries to become the third player in the WPL to bag a hat-trick after Deepti and Issy Wong.

Brief Scores:
UP Warriorz Women  177 for 9 in 20 overs (Kiran Navire 17, Deepti Sharma 13, Tahlia Mcgarth 24, Shweta Sheravat 11, Chinell Henry 62, Sophie Ecclestone 12; Jess Jonassen 4-31, Marizanne Kapp 2-18, Shikha Pandey 1-39, Arundhatti Reddy 2-52) beat Delhi Capitals Women 144 in 19.3 overs  (Shafali Verma 24, Jemimmah Rodrigues 56, Niki Prasad 18, Shikha Pandey 15*; Chinell Henry 1-42, Grace Harris 4-15, Kranti Goud 4-25, Deepti Sharma 1-25)by 33 runs

[Cricinfo]


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Amelia Kerr hits 139-ball 179* as New Zealand pull off record chase to level series

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5 hours ago

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2026/04/1

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Amelia Kerr ended with 179 not out off just 139 balls [Cricinfo]

It was the Amelia Kerr show at Basin Reserve on Wednesday as she played the sort of innings that would go into cricket folklore if it were played at a World Cup instead of a bilateral series, to completely hog the limelight in a match with three other knocks of note and a total of 696 runs in 99.4 overs. Amelia scored 179 not out in 139 balls. And as New Zealand crossed South Africa’s 346 with two balls left, it became the highest successful chase  in women’s ODI history.

The result hardly seemed like when New Zealand, faced with a chase of 347, lost Suzie Bates in the fifth over, bowled by Ayabonga Khaka. Amelia settled in fast, but by the midway stage, New Zealand were four down, Kayla Reyneke striking twice and Sune Luus once as Georgia Plimmer, Maddy Green and Brooke Halliday all fell without making a significant contribution.

Amelia finally found the partner she needed in Isabella Gaze, the wicketkeeper-batter at No. 6. Together, the two of them 120 runs in 82 balls, Amelia scoring 47 of those runs in 34 balls to Gaze’s enterprising 68 in 48, studded with 11 fours.

By the time Gaze fell, becoming the first of two wickets in the game for Masabata Klaas, New Zealand had bounced right back and were in with a strong sniff. Amelia, by then on 113 off 97 balls, looked in the mood.

And then, with the lower-order batters for company, Amelia did what she had to: speed up. She scored a-run-a-ball 23 in a 40-run stand with Izzy Sharp, then 25 in 12 balls with her sister Jess, Rosemary Mair came and went, and then Amelia finished the job in the company of debutant Kayley Knight with two balls left. Amelia had reached her century – her fifth in ODIs, which includes a double-century – off 90 balls, and the 79 she scored after that came off just 49 more.

Earlier, South Africa would have felt happy with their performance with the bat after New Zealand had won the toss and asked them to bat, having lost the first game batting first, though not out of choice.

New Zealand struck early, removing Tazmin Brits in the eighth over, but then had to wait till the 28th before they got lucky again. In between, Laura Wolvaardt (69 in 74 balls) and Anneke Bosch (91 in 90) had added 132 runs in 124 balls, and South Africa were clearly on top.

South Africa continued to get strong partnerships with many of their batters settling in and showing form: 44 between Bosch and Luus (40), 34 between Luus and Sinalo Jafta (37), 40 between Jafta and Chloe Tryon (52*), 36 in just 18 balls between Tryon and Nadine de Klerk (18), and 25 in 12 balls for the unbroken seventh wicket between Tryon and Reyneke (9*). All of that added up to a very healthy total despite Bree Illing’s 3 for 60 and Knight’s 2 for 65, and South Africa would have expected the finish the night with the series in the bag, till Amelia decided otherwise.

Brief scores:
New Zealand Women 350 for 8 in 49.4 overs  (Amelia Kerr 179*, Isabella Gaze 68; Ayabonga Khaka 3-51, Kayla Reyneke 2-54, Masabata  Klaas 2-61) beat South Africa Women  346 for 6 (Anneke Bosch 91, Laura Wolvaardt 69, Chloe Tryon 52*, Sune Luus 40; Bree  Illing 3-60, Kaylee Knight 2-65) by two wickets

[Cricinfo]

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Ice-cool Connolly leads nervy Punjab Kings home on IPL debut

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9 hours ago

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2026/04/1

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Cooper Connolly was the Player of the Match on his IPL debut [Cricinfo]

Punjab Kings 165 for 7 in 19.1 overs (Cooper Connolly 72*, Prabhsimran Singh 37, Shreyas Iyer 18, Xavier Bartlett 11*; Kagsio Rabada 1-13, Ashok Sharma 1-31, Rashid Khan 1-29, Washington Sundar 1-27, Prasidh Krishna 3-29) beat Gujarat Titans 162 for 6 in 20 overs  (Sai Sudarshan 13, Shubman Gill 39, Joss Buttler 38, Glenn Phillips 25, Washington Sundar 18, Rahul Tewatia 11*; Marco Jansen 1-20, Vijayakumar Vyshak 3-34, Yuzvendra Chahal 2-28) by three wickets

Gujarat Titans (GT) stopped Punjab Kings (PBKS) in their tracks but could not stop them from going over the finish line in New Chandigarh. Cooper Connolly steered the hosts home in a chase that began authoritatively before taking nervy turns.

Prabhsimran Singh led the initial charge alongside Connolly before Prasidh Krishna initiated a collapse that derailed the chase. But with help from Marco Jansen and Xavier Bartlett, Connolly took PBKS home with five balls to spare.

GT had a sub-par outing with the bat, with three of their top four getting off to good starts but none of them capitalising. Yuzvendra Chahal was back to his best, taking out Shubman Gill and Jos Buttler, who top-scored with 39 and 38 respectively.

PBKS’ bowlers conceded 14 extras, 11 of which were wides, four of them coming in the final over by Arshdeep Singh. Perhaps the more relevant stat separating the teams was that GT hit three sixes in their innings and PBKS as many as 14.

Chahal came on with GT well set on 65 for 1 off 7 overs. He bowled slow, and varied his lines against Gill to dismiss him fourth time in the IPL. This time, it was a slog sweep that carried to deep midwicket.

There were a couple of near-chances in the 11th over, one a caught-and-bowled chance off Buttler and then one off Glenn Phillips, who hit an airy four that went just wide of Shreyas Iyer at cover. Chahal returned in the 16th, after a three-over break, with Buttler batting on 38 off 30 and itching for runs. Two dots later, Buttler looked to clear long-on but Bartlett used his height and reach to take an excellent high catch.

Vijaykumar Vyshak bowled across phases and found success later in the innings. Buttler and Gill took him on initially, hitting two fours and a six in his first two overs, the sixth and eighth of the GT innings. He came back and got Glenn Phillips to hole out to long-off in the 14th.

He saved the best for the death, bowling slower balls, either into the pitch or pitched right up. The first variant got Washington Sundar caught, cutting to deep point, and the latter had Shahrukh Khan slogging to deep square leg.

The pitch seemed flat early on as Gill, Sai Sudharsan and Buttler started with a flurry of fours. Nine in the first six overs, in fact. There were drives, pulls and flicks, and a gorgeous back-foot punch by Buttler off Vyshak.

The slowdown came in the middle overs, which saw GT make 77 for 3. Buttler faced 14 dots in his 33-ball 38, Gill, having rocketed to 27 off 15, made just 12 off his last 12 balls.

Phillips got off to a promising start on GT debut, hitting Chahal for a six and a four within his first eight balls at the crease. He missed out on a couple of boundaries because of Marco Jansen’s fielding at long-off. In the end, three of the top-four batters got to 25 but none went past 39.

After Kagiso Rabada dismissed Priyansh Arya cheaply, Connolly and Prabhsimran took him on: they hit three sixes in the fourth over, the same as GT’s innings tally.

Connolly then used Ashok Sharma’s pace to carve a length ball over cover point. He then hit two sixes off successive Rashid overs while Prabhsimran did the same off Washington Sundar.

However, Prabhsimran couldn’t get going against Rashid. He faced eight balls and scored just two before charging the legspinner and finding Prasidh at long-on. PBKS were 83 for 1 in the tenth over.

The momentum didn’t flag with that wicket, as Shreyas hit sixes off back-to-back short balls from Ashok. But out of nowhere, Prasidh dismissed the PBKS captain, who chipped a half-volley straight to deep midwicket.

This brought about a burst of T20-style wickets where the field mattered more than the quality of the ball. Nehal Wadhera cut a shortish slower ball straight to cover. Shashank Singh, looking to run the ball to deep third, nicked to the keeper off Prasidh. Marcus Stoinis, off Prasidh again, carved a shortish ball to deep third. PBKS had lost four wickets in the space of 16 balls for eight runs.

At 121 for 6, with PBKS needing 42 off 30, the game was flipping. But Connolly was ice-cool against Rabada. He punished two short balls to bookend the 16th over, the first cut over backward point for four to bring up his fifty and the last one pulled over square leg for six.

The pressure was eased at the other end as Jansen and Bartlett pulled Prasidh for sixes in the 17th and 19th overs respectively. That was where PBKS effectively sealed the game.

Brief scores:
Punjab Kings 165 for 7 in 19.1 overs (Cooper Connolly 72*, Prabhsimran Singh 37, Shreyas Iyer 18, Xavier Bartlett 11*; Kagsio Rabada 1-13, Ashok Sharma 1-31, Rashid Khan 1-29, Washington Sundar 1-27, Prasidh Krishna 3-29) beat Gujarat Titans 162 for 6 in 20 overs  (Sai Sudarshan 13, Shubman Gill 39, Joss Buttler 38, Glenn Phillips 25, Washington Sundar 18, Rahul Tewatia 11*; Marco Jansen 1-20, Vijayakumar Vyshak 3-34, Yuzvendra Chahal 2-28) by three wickets

[Cricinfo]

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Heat Index at Caution Level in the Western, Sabaragamuwa, Southern, Eastern, North-western, Northern and North-central provinces and in Monaragala district

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14 hours ago

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2026/04/1

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Warm Weather Advisory
Issued by the Natural Hazards Early Warning Centre
Issued at 3.30 p.m. on 31 March 2026, valid for 01 April 2026.

The Heat index, the temperature felt on human body is likely to increase up to ‘Caution level’ at some places in the Western, Sabaragamuwa, Southern, Eastern, North-western, Northern and North-central provinces and in Monaragala district.

The Heat Index Forecast is calculated by using relative humidity and maximum temperature and this is the condition that is felt on your body. This is not the forecast of maximum temperature. It is generated by the Department of Meteorology for the next day period and prepared by using global numerical weather prediction model data.

Effect of the heat index on human body is mentioned in the above table and it is prepared on the advice of the Ministry of Health and Indigenous Medical Services.

ACTION REQUIRED
Job sites: Stay hydrated and takes breaks in the shade as often as possible.
Indoors: Check up on the elderly and the sick.
Vehicles: Never leave children unattended.
Outdoors: Limit strenuous outdoor activities, find shade and stay hydrated.
Dress: Wear lightweight and white or light-colored clothing.

Note:
In addition, please refer to advisories issued by the Disaster Preparedness & Response Division, Ministry of Health in this regard as well. For further clarifications please contact 011-7446491.

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