Analysis #WPL | Marizanne Kapp's new found weapon
Written By: Jeet Vachharajani
Date: 25-03-2023
Picture Courtesy: Jio Cinema
Marizanne Kapp is a genius. A genius who knows how to adapt to different conditions & find a way to be successful when conventional swing is not a potent weapon. Conventional swing bowlers often find it hard to survive or have more good days in T20 cricket. It's because they have to rely on the conditions on offer. If there is swing, they'll thrive - If there is no swing, they'll have to strive.
Kapp found a way, a very effective way! I observed an interesting pattern in M#4 that the Delhi Capitals played & what unfurled for the matches to come after one particular event in that game.
Marizanne Kapp's stock delivery
It's probably safe for me to say that I have rarely watched Kapp bring the ball back into a right-handed batter. She is an outswing bowler & banks upon the same to get the wickets early on before resorting to pace variations. There's a good chance that she's not comfortable bowling inswing because of the technical challenge that comes with it being a natural outswing bowler.
The game-changer - Kapp vs. Laura Wolvaardt
Kapp bowled a lot of her stock deliveries in the first three games & bowled 6 outswingers in the first over of M#4 vs. Gujarat Giants. It was Laura Wolvaardt's first game of the WPL as a replacement player & things were about to take a turn when Kapp was to bowl to Wolvaardt in her 2nd over. Wolvaardt & Kapp are two South Africans who have played a lot of games together for their nation & would have faced enough times in the nets.
Ball 1 - There's a good chance that Wolvaardt would have never seen Kapp bring the ball back into RHBs all her career. But the very first ball that Wolvaardt faced against Kapp - The ball darted back in to rattle the stumps! The reaction of Wolvaardt had a lot to tell. She didn't see that coming, in fact, no one did, barring Kapp. Kapp bowled what looked like a scrambled seam delivery & what followed was a barrage of the same in the games to come.
It worked for Kapp on the very first delivery she tried in that game, so she did it again on the next ball. Result - Ashleigh Gardner 0 (1)!
And again!
And again!
The potent weapon eventually saw her bowl more of that to finish with 5/15. But, she wasn't done yet. She knew it's a wicket-taking option & she continued the same with more success at the DY Patil stadium. These deliveries were more effective for her at DY than Brabourne since there was something on offer in the pitches & conditions at DY than the flat ones at Brabourne.
Next target - Nat Sciver-Brunt 0 (1)
Nat Sciver-Brunt was undone by a delivery that came back in ever so slightly. She was as flummoxed as Wolvaardt & the smiling assassin knew that she had outsmarted another top batter in cricket.
Marizanne Kapp vs.: 1 - Laura Wolvaardt 0 (1) | 2 - Ashleigh Gardner 0 (1) | 3 - Nat Sciver-Brunt 0 (1)
Digest this! Kapp had undone three of the best batters in women's cricket. In the games to come, Wolvaardt & Gardner weren't dismissed by Kapp, but continued to be troubled with deliveries coming back into them. This was a bowling performance & smarts I relished in the WPL. Kapp's well & truly a genius all-rounder in cricket!
*All images courtesy - Jio Cinema