Mumbai, March 25 (IANS) Ahead of the inaugural Women’s Premier League (WPL) final against Mumbai Indians at the Brabourne Stadium on Sunday, Delhi Capitals all-rounder Alice Capsey feels the side has made it to the title clash on the back of every player contributing their bit to take the team into a match-winning position.
Alice, the off-spin all-rounder, has been a back-to-back winner of the women’s edition of The Hundred with the Oval Invincibles team. She is now looking at adding another trophy to her kitty through the Delhi Capitals in the WPL.
She had been a pivotal factor in Delhi clinching their spot for the final through her spell of 3/26 with her off-spin and making 34 from 31 balls in a crucial win over UP Warriorz earlier in the week.
“I’ve been very fortunate to be a part of some pretty outstanding teams. The two teams I’ve been a part of have had lots of different characters, lots of different match-winners, who have all stood up at different times. That’s what makes a great team.”
You could list every single player. They’ve all done something throughout this competition to get us into a match-winning position. You can’t just rely on one or two players. And that’s definitely the case here at Delhi. It’s brilliant to be part of those teams. The experience and wealth of knowledge in the changing room is amazing,” Capsey was quoted as saying by Sky Sports.
She also felt captain Meg Lanning, as well as head coach, Jonathan Batty — who coached the Invincibles to their Hundred wins — as key factors behind Delhi’s success in the tournament.
“I think we’ve gelled really well. It’s such a cliche; we’ve spent a lot of time together now, but even at the beginning, it was just a great team environment. Hats off to JB and Meg for setting that up and bringing us all together,” the all-rounder said.
“We’ve stayed pretty level-headed. I think that’s a really crucial thing; that is something Meg has done really well, keeping us all level and on the right track,” she added.
Alice also feels the Mumbai Indians, who got a huge win over the Warriorz in the eliminator on Friday, have their strengths in captain Harmanpreet Kaur, tearaway pacer Issy Wong and all-rounder Nat Sciver-Brunt.
“Mumbai flew out the blocks and looked pretty much unbeatable. They’ve got X-factor players in Nat Sciver-Brunt, Harmanpreet Kaur, but the thing that stands out for me is their consistency and the experience within their team.
Harmanpreet is a brilliant captain. She has managed to rally the team really well. They look a really well-balanced side, with their spinners and also the X-factor pace of Issy Wong. Their record over the group stage — obviously they didn’t have the best end to it — the cricket they were playing at the beginning was really good,” said Capsey.
“They got themselves into a position to qualify (for the playoffs) earlier than any other team. That just shows the quality they’ve got,” she added.
Alice signed off by hoping Delhi would get the win on their side on the final day.
“It’s two very different roads to the final. But it’s about peaking at the right time. Hopefully we’ve done that. We’ve got one more game and hopefully we win it. That would be great,” she concluded.
–IANS
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