A captain with a stomach bug, a captain with awe-inspiring displays and a captain impressed by increasing home support make up the best moments from the Women’s World T20 so far
Vithushan Ehantharajah21-Mar-2016Player of the Week – Anam AminHad Anam Amin listened to her mother when she was growing up, she might not be on the world stage. A keen cricketer throughout her childhood, her mum was not totally enamoured with her father’s insistence that Anam play cricket. However, since getting called up to the Pakistan national team in 2014, her mother has warmed to the pursuit. “Now she keeps saying that I have to take three or four wickets every game,” revealed Amin. The left-arm spinner reached that target in the first match, with 4 for 16 in a losing cause against West Indies. Then, against India, she fell short of her mother’s expectations – who hasn’t? – but still played a crucial hand in her side’s victory, with a frugal 1 for 9. Both performances earned her Player-of-the-Match awards – something she sets out to win every time she plays. It is probably this second, less wicket-filled spell that best sums up her role in the side. Her captain Sana Mir asks her for as many dot balls as possible and, more often than not, Amin delivers with unerring accuracy and an appreciation of a spinner’s right to flight. Oh, and her childhood hero is Daniel Vettori. What’s not to like?Meg’s Delhi BellyOn the field, Meg Lanning can do everything (even bowl at good pace, if she’s in the mood). But off it, she learned the hard way that she can’t eat everything. Having contracted a chronic stomach bug in Nagpur, she threw up on the outfield while warming up for the game against South Africa. Alex Blackwell took the coin toss on her behalf. After managing a few overs in the field, she went off early and ended up passing out in the dressing room. She didn’t open and was only woken up when Australia had slipped to 9 for 3 in their chase of 103. “You might need to pad up,” was the message from Alyssa Healy. Pulling herself together, she embarked on the bravest odyssey to steer her country to glory since Braveheart. However, unlike Bill Wallace, Lanning saw it through, crashing 30 from 19 balls, again enlisting the support of Blackwell (42 off 46) for as comfortable a six-wicket win as could be expected.Bates leads the wayThe reigning New Zealand Women’s Player of the Year – she has been for the last three, to be fair – and currently front-runner for highest run-getter at this World T20. Suzie Bates is on fire. A calculated 37 saw off Sri Lanka, a barnstorming 82 off 60 impaled Ireland, while a relatively austere 23, at less than a run-a-ball, was enough to get her side’s run chase against Australia off to a solid start, as New Zealand romped to a six-wicket win against the three-time champions Australia, to make it three from three. With the pitches so far leaving a lot to be desired, the competition needs expansive players like Bates to not be put off by the slow numbers, and make as much noise as possible. So far, she and her charges are drowning out the rest.Big love in the house that gets noneAfter looking like it had survived the cull from the World T20 itinerary, the case against Delhi has re-emerged ahead of the semi-finals it’s set to host. The Feroz Shah Kotla certainly has its faults – peculiarly, the design of the ground is such that in order to move from one stand to the other, you need to leave and then re-enter the ground. But on Saturday, they did a sterling job of hosting India v Pakistan. By 4pm, 6,412 were in the ground. With the gates left open from the innings break, more and more were allowed to stream in to tip the attendance to over 7,000. India captain Mithali Raj was impressed: “It was quite exciting to be at the centre of it. It was definitely one of the best crowds I have played in front of. After every wicket we earned, so many people cheering was exceptional and gave a good feeling.”Travel woesThe thing about India is this – it’s really big. Like huge. So when the ICC decided to shy away from the three-stadium structure and pick eight venues for the women’s competition, naturally, travelling around has proved something of an inconvenience. New Zealand have been stung particularly harshly. On Friday, they left Mohali, where they had just played Ireland, for Nagpur, with three stopovers at Delhi, Bangalore and Mumbai. Good for the air miles, not so good on the deep veins. Ireland were also on the receiving end of some Mohali-based travel woes. When they stopped over in Delhi on the way there, a handful of players, believing their journey was over, disembarked the plane. Luckily, a member of the backroom staff clocked what was going on and rounded them up before it was too late.
