Grace Harris reflects on her hat-trick, reveals she manifested it in pre-match meeting

As the ongoing 3rd edition of the Women’s Premier League (WPL) moves to its 2nd leg at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru, we witnessed another remarkable encounter between the two underdog sides in Delhi Capitals and UP Warriorz in the 8th match of the ongoing 3rd edition of the tournament. The crowd turned out in impressive numbers despite their home side wasn’t in action at the Chinnaswamy Stadium.

The fans had an exciting and memorable action, making each of their pennies spent worth every moment of action on the field. The Capitals bowlers displayed a bowling masterclass of the right lines and lengths on a pitch that was conducive to seam movement and a bit of an extra bounce after skipper Meg Lanning won the toss and opted to field first.

The Deepti Sharma-led side were in deep trouble at 89/6 in the 14th over when Chinelle Henry joined Tahlia McGrath at the crease and showed the Warriorz batters that it wasn’t as bad a pitch to bat on as they made it look like, with her explosive innings (62 off 23 balls) with the bat infusing momentum into their innings.

She scripted history with the joint-fastest for off 18 balls, alongside Sophia Dunkley, in the history of the WPL, clearing the boundary ropes on 8 occasions, along with a couple of boundaries to her name, taking her team’s total to 177/9 in their quota of 20 overs. Jess Jonassen (4-0-31-4) was the pick of the bowlers for the Delhi Capitals.

“I’ve batted once with her in the trial game, and we spoke about batting at the death and she asked me a few questions and whatnot and I just kind of said like I love that role for her. She is a very good striker of the ball. She’s a very powerful athlete and if you can give her good access to the ball and that clean swing that she’s got but not only that she’s a happily happy bubbly personality too so she’s fantastic around our group, she just gives a great energy,” said Grace Harris praising Chinelle Henry for her clean striking and her clear mindset with the bat in hand.

Chenille Henry also picked up the big wicket of Marizanne Kapp in her spell with the ball for her side. She was also awarded the Player of the Match for her impactful all-round performance for her side in a potentially must-win game.

Defending a total of 178, the Warriorz fielders grassed a few chances in the field especially in the powerplay, luckily for them, it didn’t eventually end up costing them. Despite all the lapses in the field, it didn’t stop the 21-year-old youngster Kranti Goud from announcing herself in the WPL, by dismissing the opposition and former Australian skipper Meg Lanning with an absolute Jaffa with a ball that jagged back in after pitching to disturb the furniture of the stumps.

The day only kept getting better and better for her; she kept growing in confidence through her match-defining spell (4-0-25-4). The Capitals were eventually wrapped up for 144 with three balls to spare, to give the Warriorz their first victory in the ongoing 3rd edition of the tournament with a comprehensive 33-run victory.

Grace Harris, the golden arm delivered another memorable moment as she claimed the first hat-trick of the ongoing 3rd edition of the tournament coming in the final over of the run chase, to seal the first points for the UP Warriorz.

“Look, I was joking in the bowlers meeting earlier today. I got asked what my plans would be if I got an over today and I said I’m going to bowl this and get chaff out and then I’m going to bowl this and get so and so out and then I’m going to bowl this and I’m going to take a hat trick and like with the field.

“So the girls like pretty, pretty kind of casual meetings we have but you know with a, with a purpose but they all just started laughing because they said you know you kind of manifested it,” Grace Harris spoke about manifesting a hattrick in a pre-game conversation within the team.

She became only the third bowler after Issy Wong (Mumbai Indians), and Deepti Sharma (UP Warriorz) to take a hattrick in the Women’s Premier League (WPL).

“That was not good bowling to get a hattrick. But we are just really enjoying our time here with UP and in India and we’re loving the WPL, I know we haven’t had success just yet. We won today, so hopefully that turns the tide for us,” said Grace Harris, who eventually returned with match figures of 2.3-0-15-4 in her spell, speaking about enjoying the time in India representing the UP Warriorz, while also hoping for a change in momentum, moving forward in the tournament.

In their next challenge, the UP Warriorz led by skipper Deepti Sharma will be up against the home side Royal Challengers Bengaluru led by skipper Smriti Mandhana in the 9th match of the tournament on 24th February 2025 (Monday) from 7:30 PM IST at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium.

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