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Sciver-Brunt, Matthews propel Mumbai to second WPL final

cricket13 March 2025 18:27| © MWP
By:CS Chiwanza
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Hayley Matthews & Natalie Sciver © PhotoShelter

Nat Sciver-Brunt and Hayley Matthews put on a show with the bat to set the Mumbai Indians Women up for a 47-run win over Gujarat Giants Women in their Tata Women's Premier League (WPL) encounter at the Brabourne on Thursday night.

Ashleigh Gardner called correctly at the toss and asked Mumbai to bat first. Harmanpreet Kaur and company made the best of the conditions and raced to 213/4. Matthews and Amelia Kerr traded the purple cap as they helped Mumbai restrict the Giants to 166 in 19.2 overs.

“To put runs on the board like that, in a pressure game, that is also a way to go about it. Losing the toss today sets us up nicely for a good match in the final, and we can take confidence from that,” Sciver-Brunt shared after the match.

With this victory, Mumbai extended their head-to-head record against the Giants to 7-0. Mumbai showed their dominance over the Giants by recording the highest score ever in the WPL. A fitting touch to the encounter was that Matthews and Sciver-Brunt combined for the last wicket, bowled Matthews, the purple cap holder, and caught Sciver-Brunt.

The duo did their best work on the day with the bat. They shared a 133-run second-wicket partnership that set Mumbai on course for a mammoth total. They were dismissed for identical scores, 77 runs. That tally, 77 runs, is the highest individual score in a WPL eliminator tie. The duo was in sync so much that they both reached their half-centuries through sixes.

The platform they constructed set the stage for Harmanpreet Kaur to put on a clinic in batting at the death. The Mumbai captain smashed four sixes and two fours for her 36 runs off 12 balls to put her side in front at the break.

"Hayley and Nat did a good job, setting it up for us. They are great players, they know how to play these kinds of games. We don't need to tell them what they need to do. Really happy with how they took responsibility and batted for the team," Kaur shared after the match.

The orange cap holder, Sciver-Brunt, is enjoying a fruitful season. She has one of the highest strike rates in the tournament and became the first-ever batter to register five half-centuries in a WPL season with her 77 off 41 balls. She was in fine touch and required only 29 deliveries to reach the milestone. Sciver-Brunt now has eight 50s in the WPL.

Her fluent strokeplay allowed Matthews time to find her feet after a scratchy start. At one point, the West Indies star was on 17 off 22 balls after seven overs. The opener broke the shackles by slapping three consecutive boundaries off Priya Mishra in the eighth over. Matthews scored 14 of the 15 runs the over yielded. With that, she was up and going.

"I think it was a really good game, you got a lot of value for your shots as a batter. We (Nat and me) worked hard to ease the pressure off of us," Matthews explained.

She found her range and punished the Giants for not holding on to the chance to dismiss her when she was on five. Matthews raced to her fifth WPL half-century in 36 balls. She finished the match with 77 off 50 balls. Her tally matched her WPL career-best total, an unbeaten 77 against the Royal Challengers Bengaluru in 2023. This is her third half-ton of the season and her fifth in the WPL.

The Giants did not help their cause with the numerous misfields that leaked runs. Gardner's teammates conceded several boundaries through poor fielding efforts. Mumbai did better than the Giants in the field. They were on point in stopping boundaries and executed three run-outs that tipped the game in their favour.

Bhatia was not at her best with the bat but was clinical behind the stumps. The wicketkeeper completed the run-outs initiated by Sanskriti Gupta, Amanjot Kaur, and Harmanpreet Kaur to dismiss Harleen Deol, Danielle Gibson, and Kashvee Gautam. She also showed off her lightning quick reflexes with the stumping of Phoebe Litchfield.

Mumbai's bowlers ensured that the Giants didn't get any momentum. Gibson, who came into the side in place of the injured Deandra Dottin, started like a house on fire but was dismissed for 34 off 24 before she inflicted more damage. Litchfield's innings followed a similar arc, then she was dismissed for 31 off 20.

Hayley Matthews was the pick of the bowlers for Mumbai with three wickets for 31 runs in 3.2 overs. Amelia Kerr did well for her two wickets for 28 runs in four overs, while Shabnim Ismail and Nat Sciver-Brunt finished with a wicket each.

GUJARAT GIANTS: Beth Mooney (wk), Kashvee Gautam, Harleen Deol, Ashleigh Gardner (capt), Phoebe Litchfield, Danielle Gibson, Bharti Fulmali, Simran Shaikh, Tanuja Kanwar, Meghna Singh, Priya Mishra.

MUMBAI INDIANS: Hayley Matthews, Amelia Kerr, Nat Sciver-Brunt, Harmanpreet Kaur (capt), Amanjot Kaur, Yastika Bhatia (wk), S Sajana, G Kamalini, Sanskriti Gupta, Shabnim Ismail, Saika Ishaque.

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