Alice Capsey: England batter eyes WPL final glory to go with back-to-back Hundred tournament wins | Cricket News

England batter Alice Capsey is eyeing a third big tournament success in her fledgling cricketing career as she prepares for Sunday’s inaugural Women’s Premier League final.

The 18-year-old Capsey first burst onto the scene two years’ ago as part of the Oval Invincibles team which won the first women’s edition of The Hundred. They then retained their title last summer, and Capsey is now looking for another winner’s medal with the Delhi Capitals in the WPL.

Capsey was influential in seeing the Capitals into Sunday’s final, where they will face the Mumbai Indians, as she took 3-26 with her off-spin and cracked 34 from 31 balls in a win over UP Warriorz earlier in the week that clinched their spot.

“I’ve been very fortunate to be a part of some pretty outstanding teams,” Capsey told Sky Sports.

“The two teams I’ve been a part of have had lots of different characters, lots of different match-winners, who have all stood up at different times. That’s what makes a great team.

“You can’t just rely on one or two players. And that’s definitely the case here at Delhi.

“You could list every single player. They’ve all done something throughout this competition to get us into a match-winning position.

“It’s brilliant to be part of those teams. The experience and wealth of knowledge in the changing room is amazing.”

Capsey also attributed the leadership of Australia and Capitals captain, Meg Lanning, as well as their head coach, Jonathan Batty – who led the Invincibles to their Hundred wins – as key to Delhi’s success.

“I think we’ve gelled really well,” Capsey said. “It’s such a cliché; we’ve spent a lot of time together now, but even at the beginning, it was just a great team environment.

“Hats off to JB and Meg for setting that up and bringing us all together.

“We’ve stayed pretty level-headed. I think that’s a really crucial thing; that is something Meg has done really well, keeping us all level and on the right track.”

The Capitals got off to a rip-roaring start to the tournament, topping 200 with the bat in their opening two wins over Royal Challengers Bangalore and the Warriorz, before they suffered an eight-wicket hammering at the hands of Mumbai, who won all of their first five games.

Delhi would lose only once more from their final five games, however – to the Gujarat Titans – which included a revenge, nine-wicket win over Mumbai in their second meeting as they went straight through to the final.

With the Indians beating the Warriorz in Friday’s eliminator to set up another showdown between the two sides in Sunday’s final, Capsey spoke of the strengths of their opponents.

“Mumbai flew out the blocks and looked pretty much unbeatable,” she said. “They’ve got X-factor players in Nat Sciver-Brunt, Harmanpreet Kaur, but the thing that stands out for me is their consistency and the experience within their team.

“Harmanpreet’s a brilliant captain. She has managed to rally the team really well. They look a really well-balanced side, with their spinners and also the X-factor pace of Issy Wong.

“Their record over the group stage – obviously they didn’t have the best end to it – the cricket they were playing at the beginning was really good.

“They got themselves into a position to qualify [for the playoffs] earlier than any other team. That just shows the quality they’ve got.

“It’s two very different roads to the final. But it’s about peaking at the right time.

“Hopefully we’ve done that. We’ve got one more game and hopefully we win it. That would be great.”

Watch the WPL final between the Mumbai Indians and Delhi Capitals, live on Sky Sports Cricket and Main Event from 2.50pm on Sunday.