Beth Mooney, Laura Wolvaardt power Gujarat Giants to first win of 2024 WPL season

New Delhi: Gujarat Giants openers Beth Mooney (85* off 51) and Laura Wolvaardt (76 off 45) set the stage on fire with sublime strokeplay and a splendid 140-run opening stand at the Arun Jaitley Stadium to power Gujarat Giants to their first win of the season as they beat Royal Challengers Bangalore by 19 runs in Match 13 of the TATA WPL 2024 here on Wednesday.

Mooney and Wolvaardt set a solid platform, stitching a 140-run stand for the opening wicket, with Mooney carrying her bat through, to help GG post a formidable 199/5.

Ashleigh Gardner then led the charge with the ball, with a brilliant spell of 2/23 to help GG restrict RCB to 180/8 and register their first win after four losses in the first four matches.

Defending 200, GG got the big wicket of Smriti Mandhana inside the Powerplay. Ashleigh Gardner bowled a brilliant spell, giving away just two runs from two overs inside the first six overs and trapping Mandhana LBW.

After a quiet first two overs from Gardner and Kathryn Bryce, Mandhana upped the scoring, taking the attack to Tanjua Kanwar and smacking a couple of sixes and a four to get 17 off the third over.

Kathryn Bryce bowled another decent over, giving away just seven before Gardner sent back Mandhana. It was a good Powerplay for the Giants, as they restricted RCB to 39/1.

RCB suffered another setback immediately after the Powerplay as S Meghana was run out for 4. Sophie Devine and Ellyse Perry then steadied the ship briefly with a 34-run stand with Devine smashing a couple of powerful sixes. But Mooney brought back Kanwar in the 11th over and she struck off the first ball, cleaning up Devine (23 off 16) to dent RCB.

With over 14 runs an over required, it only got tougher for RCB as Bryce came back to get the big wicket of Perry (24 off 23), caught behind. Richa Ghosh and Georgia Wareham then pressed the accelerator button, smashing seven fours in the space of 14 balls. But the brilliant Gardner halted their charge as she dismissed Ghosh (30 off 21) at a crucial juncture to jolt RCB.

With 71 required off 24 balls, Wareham battled hard with some powerful strikes. But the required run rate kept rising, and with 49 needed off 12, it was too much to ask for as GG restricted RCB to 180/8 and won the match by 19 runs. Wareham played a brilliant knock of 48 off 22 balls before she was run out in the penultimate over.

Earlier, Gujarat Giants captain Beth Mooney won the toss and elected to bat. They got off to a solid start courtesy of openers Beth Mooney and Laura Wolvaardt. The pair put on an exhibition of sublime drives as they found gaps with surgical precision, hitting eight fours in the Powerplay and reaching 59/0 at the end of the Powerplay.

The pair kept the scoreboard ticking and boundaries flowing without taking many risks as they continued to pierce gaps post Powerplay. Wolvaardt brought her fifty in style, off 32 balls, with two consecutive fours off Ellyse Perry. She hit one more of the next ball as the pair scored 45 runs from the 6-10 over phase and reached 104/0 at the halfway mark.

The next two overs brought 30 runs as the pair hit five fours, off Georgia Wareham and Ekta Bisht combined. Mooney then brought up her half-century off 32 balls, but two balls later, the 140-run opening stand was finally broken as Wolvaardt (76 off 45) was run out via a brilliant tag-team effort from Ekta Bisht and Richa Ghosh. This was GG's first-ever 100-run stand in the WPL.

Mooney, though, continued the momentum and, in the process, hit the first six of the innings as she brought up the 50-run stand with Phoebe Litchfield, off just 32 balls. Mooney was the major contributor to the partnership.

However, RCB soon broke the partnership, in the penultimate over, via another run out to send back Litchfield for 18(17). One brought two as Ashleigh Gardner holed out to long off, off Wareham on the next ball.

Another run out followed in the next over as Bisht and Ghosh again combined to dismiss Veda Krishnamurthy. RCB pulled things back in the last couple of overs, conceding just 12 runs and picking up four wickets. Mooney remained unbeaten on 85 off 51 balls as GG posted 199/5.