WPL 2023: Hayley Matthews stars with her all-round exploits
Mumbai Indians bundled out Royal Challengers Bangalore for 155 in the 2023 Women's Premier League (WPL) at the Brabourne Stadium, Mumbai. West Indies spinner Hayley Matthews did the damage, taking three wickets. She also removed RCB skipper Smriti Mandhana in the innings. Later, a fiery knock by Matthews (77*) guided MI to a one-sided win in 14.2 overs.
The pick of MIW's bowlers
MIW skipper Harmanpreet Kaur started the proceedings with West Indies spinner Matthews. The latter ended up as MIW's pick of the bowlers. She took three wickets for 28 runs in four overs. Matthews took the pivotal wickets of Mandhana, Heather Knight, and Ghosh. Indian spinner Ishaque and New Zealand's Amelia Kerr snapped up two wickets each. Vastrakar chipped in with a solitary wicket.
Matthews owns 78 T20I wickets
Matthews, an experienced WI all-rounder, made her WT20I debut in September 2014 against New Zealand. She has snapped up 78 wickets from 82 T20Is at an incredible average of 18.06 so far. The tally includes three four-wicket hauls and an economy rate of 5.80. Matthews has also compiled 1,581 runs with the bat at a strike rate of 104.15.
A match-winning knock by Matthews
Matthews, who opened for MIW, played a match-winning knock for them. She came out all guns blazing and gave an exhibition of her immaculate stroke-play. Matthews raced to her fifty in the 10th over bowled by Preeti Bose. The former reached the mark off just 26 balls. It was her 16th half-century in T20 cricket. Matthews finished with an unbeaten 77 (38).
