Women’s T20 Challenge, VEL vs TRA as it happened: Trailblazers win by 9 wickets in under 8 overs

That’s that from the second game of the Women’s T20 Challenge. After a break tomorrow, Saturday’s match against Trailblazers becomes a must-win for the defending champions the Supernovas who are currently on zero points. Velocity and Trailblazers are on 2 each and thanks to the big win today, the equation is straightforward. The second final spot is a direct shoot-out between Supernovas and Velocity now.

Up next, is the first IPL 2020 Qualifier between Mumbai Indians and Delhi Capitals. Stay tuned for that.

The Player of the Match is none other than Sophie Eccleston for her sensational figures of 3.1-1-9-4.

“When the wickets aren’t turning, you just keep varying the pace and look to bowl as straight as possible. It’s nice to get a few wickets,” the world No 1 said.

Velocity captain Mithali Raj – “This is a match to forget. We are going to recover but it’s important we regroup and analyse. Two matches back-to-back without any preparation is tough, but we have to cheer the girls up.

A disappointing match in the end, but it was always going to be tough as Velocity were playing back-to-back games within a span of 14 hours after being away from the game for month. They have now won one and lost one and have 2 points.

After 7.5 overs, TRAILBLAZERS WIN BY 9 WICKETS!

Sealed with a SIX from teen Richa Ghosh who finishes the match with a wonderful, down-on-the-knee maximum off Ekta Bisht. The over began with Dottin blasting a four to move to 29 off 28 – the highest score of the match.

After 7 overs, Trailblazers are 37/1
The uncapped Sushree Dibyadarshini bowls her first over... perhaps with the hope of repetition of her performance last year when she took the wicket of Stafaniw Taylor in her only match.
This time, 17-year-old Richa Ghosh gets her first boundary, smacking the final ball for four and making it 9 runs off the over.

After 6 overs, Trailblazers are 28/1
Ekta Bisht into the attack in the final over of the Powerplay and Dottin goes down on a knee for a cracking boundary on the very first ball. Just three more singles of the over after that but Trailblazers are halfway there already.

After 5 overs, Trailblazers are 21/1
First boundary of the innings and it fittingly comes from Deandra Dottin who has attacked almost every ball in her zone so far. A slog that almost was a wicket but the ball slips to the boundary. The Pandey over goes for nine runs.

After 3.5 overs, Trailblazers are 12/1 – Velocity get their first wicket!
Mandhana, who went for a big shot off the spinner on the first delivery as well, tries to hit the ball in her arc again and this time it goes straight to the fielder. Kasperek opens the account for Velocity as Jahanara Alam takes a simple catch at at mid-wicket. The captain is back on 6 off 9 in her first innings after more than half a year.

After 3 overs, Trailblazers are 10/0
Another tidy over... Dottin tries to signal her intent by going for a big shot but doesn’t get it right. Both openers looking to middle the ball.

After 2 overs, Trailblazers are 7/0
Leigh Kasperek from the other end bowls a tidy over as well. Velocity will need quick wickets though, if they have any hope of making a match out of this.

After 1 over, Trailblazers are 4/0
Smriti Mandhana and Deandra Dotting to open, Shikha Pandey with the new ball. Just a couple of doubles to start with but the big-hitting West Indian has made her intent clear.

Time for Trailblazers’ chase. The target is only 48 and Velocity will hope their bowlers come to the party as well.

Sophie Eccleston, the world No 1 T20 bowler, chose to skip the Women’s Big Bash League because of bubble fatigue. Their miss is Women’s T20 Challenge’s gain as she achieves her best bowling figures of 4/9 in just 3.1 overs.

VELOCITY ARE ALL-OUT FOR 47 RUNS!
Sophie Ecclestone, the top-ranked T20I bowler in the world, finishes with sensational figures of: 3.1-1-9-4. Jahanara Alam was the last batter to be dismissed (LBW for 1) This has been a jaw-dropping first half to the match in Sharjah.

After 13.3 overs, Velocity are 45/9 – Bisht is gone on a duck!

Deepti Sharma gets her first wicket of the match as Ekta Bisht walks back on a 6-ball duck. She comes down the track in a bid to attack the bowler but chips it straight back for a low catch. A good caught and bowled for Trailblazers while Bisht looks furious with herself.

After 13 overs, Velocity are 44/8

Bangladesh captain Salma Khatun, who is making her Women’s T20 Challenger debut, is into the attack. Only two runs off her over .

After 11.5 overs, Velocity are 41/8 – Shikha Pandey is sent back!
Just when it looked like Velocity were stringing together a partnership, Pandey is run out on 10. A run out was the worst way to get out at this stage but everything that can go wrong has gone wrong for the Velocity batting. Mandhana and bowler Sharma punish the batter for confusion in running.

After 11 overs, Velocity are 38/7

Finally, an over with run again as Gayakwad goes for 11. A welcome boundary from Kasperek takes Velocity past the 27-run mark they were stuck on and then Pandey joins in with a four as well.

After 10 overs, Velocity are 27/7
A maiden from Deepti Sharma after Gayakwad’s double-wicket maiden over and at the halfway mark in their innings, Velocity are in deep, deep trouble.

Leigh Kasperek and Shikha Pandey on crease...

After 8.2 overs, Velocity are 27/7 – Sushree is gone!
OUT! Now Gayakwad has two in two! Sushree Dibyadarshini is out LBW for a first-ball duck! VELOCITY ARE 27/7 IN 8.2 OVERS!

After 8.1 overs, Velocity are 27/6 – Luus is gone!
OUT! Sune Luus is out caught-and-bowled by Rajeshwari Gayakwad! Luss delivered a match-winning performance for Velocity last night but she has been dismissed for 4 off 10 today.

After 8 overs, Velocity are 27/5 (Luus 4, Pandey 3)
Another good over for the Trailblazers, this time by Deepti Sharma. Luckily for Velocity, they didn’t lose another wicket.

After 7 overs, Velocity are 23/5 (Luus 1, Pandey 2)
Left-arm spinner Rajeshwari Gayakwad joins the attack and concedes just two singles in her first over. Phew! What a powerplay that was! Velocity have Sune Luus at the crease now. They need another special effort from the right-hander.

After 5.3 overs, Velocity are 21/5 – Sushma is gone!
OUT! And that’s Velocity losing half their side in 5.3 overs! This is turning into a nightmare for Mithali Raj and Co. Sophie Ecclestone gets her third wicket as Sushma Verma is clean bowled for 1.

After 4.3 overs, Velocity are 19/4 – Wyatt is gone!
OUT! What is happening here?! Velocity have lost their fourth wicket in the powerplay! This time the experienced Danielle Wyatt hits it straight to mid-off. Jhulan gets her second wicket. Trailblazers are well on top.

After 4 overs, Velocity are 19/3 – Mithali and Veda are gone!
OUT & OUT! Sophie Ecclestone gets two in two! Big moment in the game as Velocity captain Mithali Raj gets out LBW for just one run. Veda Krishnamurthy the steps out first ball and gets clean bowled! Poor batting from the right-hander but absolutely brilliant bowling from the English left-arm spinner. A double-wicket maiden!

After 3 overs, Velocity are 19/1 (Wyatt 3, Mithali 1)
Captain Mithali Raj is the new batter at the crease. What a battle this is – Mithali, the highest run-scorer in ODIs vs Jhulan Goswami, the highest wicket-taker in ODIs. Two absolute legends of Indian cricket up against each other. A wicket and just three runs from that over.

After 2.2 overs, Velocity are 17/1 – Shafali is gone!
OUT! Trailblazers strike in the 3rd over and it’s Jhulan Goswami who gets the wicket. Shafali Verma, after hitting a thumping six straight back in the previous over, attempts an uncharacteristic late-cut and gets clean bowled.

After 2 overs, Velocity are 16/0 (Shafali 13, Wyatt 2)
Shot! English left-arm spinner Sophie Ecclestone takes the new ball from the other end. She tosses it up and Shafali Verma dances down the track to hit it straight back for a huge six. What a shot! What a talent!

After 1 over, Velocity are 8/0 (Shafali 6, Wyatt 1)
Eventful first over. Jhulan pitches it full and wide, Shafali takes her front foot out and drives it past extra-cover for four. The senior pacer also bowls a no-ball. Sultry conditions in Sharjah at the moment.

3.00 pm: We’re ready for live action from Sharjah! Danielle Wyatt and Shafali Verma are opening the batting for Velocity. Jhulan Goswami has the new ball in hand for Trailblazers. Here we go!

3.09 pm: Playing XIs
Velocity: Shafali Verma, Danielle Wyatt, Mithali Raj (c), Veda Krishnamurthy, Sushma Verma (w), Sune Luus, Shikha Pandey, Sushree Dibyadarshini, Ekta Bisht, Leigh Kasperek, Jahanara Alam.
Trailblazers: Smriti Mandhana (c), Deandra Dottin, Richa Ghosh (w), Harleen Deol, Deepti Sharma, Dayalan Hemalatha, Nattakan Chantam, Salma Khatun, Sophie Ecclestone, Rajeshwari Gayakwad, Jhulan Goswami.

3.02 pm: TOSS – Mithali Raj has won the toss and Velocity will BAT first!

2.51 pm: Velocity rode on a brilliant partnership between Sune Luus and Sushma Verma to get the better of Harmanpreet Kaur’s Supernovas in the opener on Wednesday. Read all about it here.

2.45 pm: Hello all and welcome to the live coverage of match No 2 in the Women’s T20 Challenge, an exhibition event featuring three teams. The teams face each other once and then the top two will meet in the final. In today’s match, Mithali Raj’s Velocity will take on Smriti Mandhana’s Trailblazers.