On Monday, a big cricket match happened in Lucknow at the Ekana Cricket Stadium. It was the first time the Women’s Premier League (WPL) held a game there. The Gujarat Giants, led by a player named Beth Mooney, beat the UP Warriorz by a lot—81 runs. This means the Giants scored way more points than the Warriorz could catch up to.
Beth Mooney is from Australia and plays as an opener, which means she’s one of the first people to bat. She hadn’t been scoring much lately—only 28 runs in her last four games. But this time, she did amazing. She scored 96 runs without getting out, hitting the ball 59 times. Her great batting helped the Giants reach a total of 186 runs, losing only five players in their 20 turns (called “overs” in cricket).
The UP Warriorz tried to match that score but couldn’t. They only got 105 runs before all their players were out after 17.1 overs. Two Giants players, Tanuja Kanwar and Kashvee Gautam, each got three Warriorz players out, making it hard for them to win. The Warriorz started badly, losing four players when they had just 25 runs, so it was pretty clear they’d lose.
Mooney had help from her teammate Harleen Deol, who batted at number three. Together, they scored 101 runs in a partnership that lasted 68 balls. Harleen made 45 runs off 32 balls, hitting the ball far six times. Three of those big hits came when she smacked the ball straight past the other team’s fast bowlers.
Mooney reached 50 runs after hitting 37 balls, including one that went far to the right of a fielder at “long-off” (a spot far from the batter). She was in control the whole time. In one part of the game, the 14th over, she hit three big shots in a row against a bowler named Kranti Goud. She kept going strong, hitting more big shots in the next two overs, reaching 85 runs by the 16th over. Everyone thought she might be the first player in the WPL to score 100 runs in a game (called a “century”).
But in the last four overs, she only got to hit the ball five more times, so she ended at 96—not quite 100. Still, she was happy because her team won big.
Here are the scores: Gujarat Giants made 186 runs with five players out in 20 overs. Mooney scored 96 (not out), Harleen Deol scored 45, and a Warriorz player named Ecclestone got two Giants out. The UP Warriorz made 105 runs in 17.1 overs. Kashvee Gautam got three players out for 11 runs, Tanuja Kanwar got three out for 17 runs, and Dottin got two out for 14 runs.
The UP Warriorz won the coin toss (called the “toss”) to decide who bats first, but it didn’t help them win. The best player of the match (Player of the Match or “PoM”) was Beth Mooney.
The next game is on Thursday: Mumbai Indians vs. UP Warriorz at 7:30 p.m.
