Cool Perry, Molineux's dream over inspires RCB to WPL crown

Ellyse Perry, Sophie Molineux and Georgia Wareham have become the first Australian winners of the Women's Premier League in its second edition, helping Royal Challengers Bangalore down Meg Lanning's Delhi Capitals to take out the 2024 crown by eight wickets.

Player of the final Molineux "turned the match on its head" with a dream three-wicket over to devastate the Capitals' top-order after the ladder-leaders reached 64 without loss in the eighth over after winning the toss.

Perry then completed a week of scintillating performances by guiding RCB coolly to their target with three balls to spare in Sunday's final, finishing unbeaten on 35 from 37 balls when Richa Ghosh struck the winning boundary in the final over.

But in was Molineux who really silenced the home Delhi fans at Arun Jaitley Stadium, the Victorian taking three wickets in four balls to rip through the Capitals' top-order and end Lanning's ambition of a final triumph for the second year running.

After winning the toss, Lanning, playing second fiddle to the big-hitting Shafali Verma, had powered Delhi to the ideal start, the Indian right-hander blitzing three sixes in her 27-ball 44.

Molineux (3-20) struck with the first ball second over to get Verma caught on the boundary by fellow Aussie Georgia Wareham, before delivering a dot ball and then bowling the dangerous pair of Jemimah Rodrigues and Alice Capsey in successive balls.

When Lanning was snared lbw by off-spinner Shreyanka Patil for a run-a-ball 23, the heart was ripped from the Delhi innings as they crumbled from 4-74 to 113 all out off 18.3 overs.

Shreyanka was outstanding with her 4-12, while Wareham finished with a miserly 0-16 from her three overs and Perry 0-14 from her two.

Molineux also proved brilliant in the field, running out Radha Yadav with a direct hit, powering in a left-handed throw from point.

RCB's reply was a cautious affair with Perry taking it on herself to carefully steer the ship after captain Smriti Mandhana (31) and Sophie Devine (32) had been dismissed.

But the winning target always seemed to be under her control as Perry hit four boundaries in her 37-ball knock while Richa Ghosh was an able partner, finishing 17no off 14 balls.

"It's pretty bonkers to be honest," smiled Perry, who has become a cult figure among RCB's fans.

"This is a whole other level for us and women's cricket. The standard of cricket has been unbelievable – it's been so much fun to play."

And the 33-year-old Perry has, once again, been so much fun to watch, a supreme athlete who turned RCB's fortunes earlier in the week with her astounding all-round display of mastery – a league-best 6-15 and 40no – against reigning champions Mumbai to get Bangalore to an eliminator in which she was to star again.

"We kind of crawled to that target today, but I just felt we needed to stay in the game and put away the loose balls. We got there in the end but it was probably longer than it should have been," said Perry.

On Molineux: "Sophie turned the match on its head."

Perry ended the tournament on 347 runs, nicking the orange cap as the tournament's leading scorer from Lanning, who amassed 331.

Wareham ended up with the highest strike-rate of the season – 163.23 for the 111 runs she scored – while Molineux ended up second in the wicket-takers' table with 12, behind Shreyanka's 13.

WPL 2024 standings

Team	Matches played M	Wins W	Losses L	Ties T	No results N/R	Net Run Rate NRR	Deductions Ded.	Total points PTS
1 Delhi Capitals Women DEL	8	6	2	0	0	1.198	0	12
2 Mumbai Indians Women MI	8	5	3	0	0	0.024	0	10
3 Royal Challengers Bengaluru Women RCB	8	4	4	0	0	0.306	0	8
4 UP Warriorz UPW	8	3	5	0	0	-0.371	0	6
5 Gujarat Giants GUJ	8	2	6	0	0	-1.158	0	4

Legend

M: Matches played

W: Wins

L: Losses

T: Ties

N/R: No results

NRR: Net Run Rate

Ded.: Deductions

PTS: Total points