After losing a close game against Delhi Capitals in the ongoing WPL 2023, Royal Challengers Bangalore pacer Megan Schutt said that Alice Capsey's cameo was game-changing and she took the ball on in the powerplay.
In the first reverse fixture of the WPL 2023, Delhi Capitals held their nerves to register their fourth win in the ongoing season with a close six-wicket victory over Royal Challengers Bangalore, who suffered their fifth consecutive loss.
After being invited to bat first, a fighting fifty (67 not out off 52) by Ellyse Perry along with Richa Ghosh's quickfire knock (37 off 16) lifted Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) to 150/4 in 20 overs. In reply, Capitals lost in-form opener Shafali Verma to Schutt's inswinger for a golden duck.
However, Capsey, who came to bat next, launched a flurry of boundaries in her 24-ball knock worth 38 to take the pitch out of equation, bringing down the asking rate to under seven an over which allowed the middle-order the cushion to negotiate the economical spin bowling in middle-overs phase.
The England player took pacer Renuka Thakur and left-arm spinner Preeti Bose to the cleaners, hitting seven boundaries in the space of nine deliveries across the fourth and fifth over to set the tempo of the chase getting out.
Season Australian pacer admitted that offering hit-me slot balls in the powerplay didn't help their cause with a sub-par score to defend. But, she was proud of her team for dragging the game down to the final over.
"Capsey's innings really changed that game. It was short-lived but game-changing. She took the ball on," Schutt said after the game. "That overs we bowled too fast and too full and simply with two [fielders] out, we weren't able to defend that.
It brought about a wicket at the end but it kind of showed the lengths we probably didn't want to bowl. And a couple of big overs in the powerplay there kind of almost pushed it to just [under] sevens really and that's kind of going to be hard to defend.
I think the fact that we got it down to the last over there is actually impressive and showed a lot of fight from the girls but, as I said, a few big overs in there shifted the game there," she added.
RCB lie at the bottom of the points table as they are yet to open their account. With her team desperately needing to win, Schutt noted that it was a crucial toss to lose.
"It was a big toss to lose, to be honest. Even in my warm up overs prior to the game, I could tell there's a bit of tack in the wicket," the 30-year-old said. "It was a bit of a tough wicket to begin with.
I mean, Kappie [Marizanne Kappp] is a world class bowler as are some of the others in their squad and you've got to give credit to that as well. They've bowled terrific lines.
Some cutters were really holding the wicket there. The intent was there. Unfortunately, [we] just hit it to the fielders a few too many times and a few too many dots," she added.