Grace Harris, Sophie Ecclestone Power UP Warriorz To Six-Wicket Victory Over Gujarat Giants

Grace Harris made a powerful fifty that helped UP Warriorz negate a sluggish surface to register a facile six-wicket win over Gujarat Giants in their Women's Premier League match on Friday.
Harris (60 not out, 33 balls, 9x4, 2x6) and skipper Alyssa Healy (33, 21b, 7x4) helped Warriorz hunt down 143 in 15.4 overs for their second win in the tournament. Giants were restricted to 142 for five after left-arm spinner Sophie Ecclestone (3/20) used a rough deck to her advantage.

Harris gave finishing touches to her good work with an outstanding innings.

The Australian right-hander used her reach and force to telling effect to keep the pressure on the Giants bowlers after Healy gave them a fantastic start in the Power Play.

The diminutive Australian smashed pacer Meghana Singh for three successive fours in the third over as the UP outfit reached 33 in just three overs, which they later swelled to 69 for two in the Power Play section.

The Giants also suffered a major blow when Harleen Deol had to limp off the field after she landed on her knees while trying to stop the ball near the ropes.

But the Gujarat side showed some signs of a comeback when they collected the quick wickets of Healy, debutante Chamari Athapathuthu and Shewta Sherawat to reduce UP to 90 for 4 in the 11th over.

They needed 53 more runs to finish the chase at this stage but Harris and Deepti Sharma (17 not out) amassed the runs in just 30 balls to propel their side to victory.

Earlier, Gujarat, in fact, made a fine start to their innings as Lara Wolvaardt (28, 26b, 4x4) helped them reach 41 in the Power Play for the loss of skipper Beth Mooney.

Wolvaardt smashed Anjali Sarvani for three fours in a row through the off-side as the pacer erred in line outside the