In a match between Sydney Thunders and Perth Scorchers, Nicola Carey’s over in powerplay overs turned out to be quite a turning point. Carey bowled 10 balls in her over and gave away 27 runs which gave Perth and edge over Sydney as they were chasing a target of 135 runs on a bouncy W.A.C.A track, Perth.
Carey bowled the 5th over of the innings. The score was 1 for 31 before the 5th over with Natalie Sciver and opener Nicole Bolton batting. Sciver was on the strike as Carey started her over. The wicketkeeper Rachel Priest standing up to create some pressure on Sciver.
Here’s how the over went:
Ball 1: Carey bowled the first ball of her spell. It seemed like she lost control of the ball completely as the ball went well wide off the wicketkeeper’s left and down the batsman’s leg side and hit the boundary for 5 wides.
Ball 2: This time she bowled a legal delivery but on the leg stump. Sciver was happy to just guide it away for four runs towards fine leg boundary.
Ball 3: Once again, Carey could not straighten the length of the ball. But this time around she gave away only 3 runs as extras.
Ball 4: First dot ball of the over, a golden one under circumstances.
Ball 5: Another one, down the leg side, the batsman had to do nothing about that delivery but watch it on its way to the fine leg boundary. It was quite frustrating for both the bowler and the wicketkeeper to see so many extras.
Ball 6: Sydney skipper Alex Blackwell decided to take matters into her own hands and pushed the wicketkeeper back. But, the runs did not stop. Carey bowled a short ball on the off stump line, Sciver got on the back foot and punched it between the point and cover fielders for 4 runs. By then, 21 runs had already been scored off just three legal deliveries.
Ball 7: Another wide, Carey struggles to straighten the line of the ball once again.
Ball 8: A golden dot ball, that saved Carey from further humiliation.
Ball 9: A short ball from Carey, this time on the stumps. Sciver got on the back foot and pulled the ball for another boundary. 26 runs from 5 legal deliveries.
Ball 10: Carey was saved from further humiliation as Sciver scored just a single off the last ball and retained the strike. Carey’s first over cost Sydney 27 runs.
Here’s the video of Carey’s over:
A very tough fifth over for @ThunderWBBL an unexpected bonus for @ScorchersBBL.
: https://t.co/IpMGOhzvzp #WBBL03 pic.twitter.com/TZ9IMqmIhz— Rebel Women’s Big Bash League (@WBBL) January 8, 2018
At the end of 5th over, Perth’s score was 58 for 1. That completely shifted the momentum towards home team’s side as the required run rate dropped to 5.13 runs per over which was 6.5 runs per over before Carey’s over.
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Sydney skipper Blackwell’s unbeaten 81 went in vain as Perth chased down the target easily with 11 balls to spare. Sciver top-scored with 61 runs in Perth’s victory by 8 wickets.
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Though one bad over does not justify the talent Carey possesses. She has taken 7 wickets from 8 games in WBBL 2017-18 and bowled spells with an economy rate around 7 runs per over excluding the 27-run over. She also starred with the bat with a 19-ball 49 in the current season.
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There have been bigger blunders than this in the cricket history. Stuart Broad was smashed for six sixes in an over and still managed to make a comeback. Now, Broad is among one of the best bowlers England have produced. Carey seems capable of doing that as well.
