Voll’s brilliance brings an end to Perry’s WPL dream

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Voll’s brilliance brings an end to Perry’s WPL dream

Rising star Georgia Voll is the latest *********** batter to agonisingly miss out on becoming the first batter to score a century in India’s Women’s Premier League, leaving her feeling as if she may have blown a piece of history.

Yet while left stranded on 99 not out for UP Warriorz as, extraordinarily, Voll became the fourth Aussie in 12 days to end up just short of the milestone in the 90s, the superb innings ended the WPL dreams of her illustrious compatriot Ellyse Perry for another year on Saturday.

Voll, in Lucknow for less than a week after downing tools on her house renovation in Brisbane and flying out as a last-minute Warriorz replacement, could hardly have made more of a swift striking impression.

Voll succumbed to a jet-lagged, three-ball duck on Monday, awoke to smack a dazzling half-century on Thursday then graduated to all-round excellence in the player-of-the-match display on Saturday in the 12-run win over Perry’s Royal Challengers Bengaluru.

She wasn’t just content with smashing 17 fours and a six off 56 deliveries to equal the record for the WPL’s highest individual score, held by New Zealander Sophie Devine, as the Warriorz, asked to bat, compiled an all-time tournament-high 5-225.

For Voll then took two key early catches and nervelessly nailed the death over, whipping off the bails after just three ****** to complete a last-wicket run-out and ensure RCB’s exhilarating chase was finally snuffed out for 213.

But Voll couldn’t help sounding a mite frustrated. Asked if she felt she had missed out on a golden chance of the historic ton, she admitted: “I think I did.”

On 98 and facing the spin of England’s Charlie Dean for the final ball, Voll mused afterwards: “I should have known she would bowl that [yorker].”

She managed only to shovel it to mid-on, with her partner Deepti Sharma being run out while thinking about coming back for an impossible second run.

It was the latest near-miss by an Aussie in what’s becoming a seemingly cursed quest for that elusive first hundred. Eight innings in the nineties’ have now been compiled, six from Australians.

Four have occurred in the last fortnight – Voll, Beth Mooney’s 96no for the Gujarat Giants on Monday, 92 for Delhi captain Meg Lanning on Friday and 90no for Perry 12 days ago.

Perry looked in the mood for another crack as she smacked 28 off her first 15 ******, becoming the season’s top-scorer in the process on 323 runs.

But after she was bowled by Anjali Sarvani, it was down to brilliant efforts from Richa Ghosh and tail-ender Sneh Rana to try to save the champions.

Ghosh clouted 69 off 33 ****** with five huge sixes while Rana hit 26, the most by any batter in a single over in the WPL, off Deepti, who conceded a record 28 in all in that penultimate over.

It meant RCB were knocked out alongside the already eliminated Warriorz, with Lanning’s Delhi, Ash Gardner’s Gujarat and Mumbai Indians now being the play-off contenders in the coming week.

NEAREST MISSES IN THE 100 QUEST IN THE WPL:

* 99no – Georgia Voll (UP Warriorz, 2025)

* 99 – Sophie Devine (Royal Challengers Bangalore, 2023)

* 96no – Alyssa Healy (UP Warriorz, 2023)

* 96no – Beth Mooney (Gujarat Giants, 2025)

* 95no – Harmanpreet Kaur (Mumbai Indians, 2024)

* 92 – Meg Lanning (Delhi Capitals, 2025)

* 90no – Tahlia McGrath (UP Warriorz, 2023)

* 90no – Ellyse Perry (Royal Challengers Bengaluru 2025).

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#Volls #brilliance #brings #Perrys #WPL #dream

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