WPL 2024: Spin twins Sophie Ecclestone, Deepti Sharma raring to go in UP Warriorz’ title bid

You can’t take a troublesome cookie like Sophie Ecclestone away from cricket. The English spinner dislocated her proper shoulder final 12 months whereas warming up forward of a fixture of The Hundred, robbing Manchester Originals of her providers for the season. She underwent surgical procedure for the difficulty in September, however was again a few months later with the English arrange that toured India for 3 T20Is and a one-off Test.

England gained the T20I leg 2-1, however misplaced the Test by a large 347-run margin. The two losses it endured had one widespread aspect: an underperforming Ecclestone. Her fluctuating rhythm didn’t cease her from bowling 41.3 overs in whole within the four-day Test. She conceded 167 runs, taking 5 wickets total. In the 2 fixtures England gained within the T20I sequence, she returned financial system charges of three.75 (with three wickets) and three.90 (two scalps). In the loss within the remaining T20I, Ecclestone conceded 40 runs regardless of taking two wickets.

This is to not pin blame on the gifted 24-year-old, particularly when she was —with the complete condence of the group administration — discovering her movement coming off the harm. However, it does converse volumes of simply how useful she is to the group’s trigger, sufficient for the outfit to rely a tad an excessive amount of on her typically. Ecclestone solely contributed to the workload, continuously approaching skipper Heather Knight to belief her with the ball for one more over.

“I hadn’t played much cricket up until that point. As a player I am really lucky that I didn’t need much training before I got into things. My head just needed to be in the right space,” Ecclestone tells Sportstar forward of her second stint for the UP Warriorz within the Women’s Premier League.

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“For the India series, it was interesting to put myself back in match situations again and in front of a big crowd as well. For the team to have faith in me was pretty nice,” she provides with a cheeky smile.

For a competitor as ruthless as her, watching from the sidelines was a troublesome proposition. She’s had to try this a good bit over the previous six months. “I had a long rehab, over three months. I’ve had some time off to give the shoulder a rest as well and was eventually just raring to go,” she explains.

Ecclestone underwent a surgical procedure after struggling a dislocated shoulder in the course of the warm-ups for The Hundred final 12 months.
| Photo Credit:
Instagram/Sophie Ecclestone

The day off was needed as she wanted to rebuild power in each shoulders. The Chester-born all-rounder was spending six days each week within the health club engaged on her energy and arm actions.

After the India tour, Ecclestone had a protracted Christmas break which she spent along with her household, giving her physique extra relaxation forward of a relentless worldwide and franchise-league season.

“It was great, but somewhere in the middle, I got really bored and was itching to bowl again,” she shrugs.

And bowl once more she is going to, for a aspect stuffed with eccentric characters and considered one of her fiercest opponents to accomplice her with the ball — India’s Deepti Sharma.

“Deepti is an incredible player and it’s fascinating to watch her do her thing. I can’t wait to team up with her, be the spin twins of the side and put up some memorable performances in India,” Ecclestone says.

The Agra-born right-arm o-break bowler shares her teammate’s enthusiasm and divulges how shut this unit has turn into over the previous 12 months.

“We were waiting for the season to begin. We enjoy each other’s company a lot,” she says.

“Sophie and I have always worked on maximising our strengths. We don’t look at what the batter we face is bringing to the table as much as we do on our stock balls. We do simple things and focus on our communication during the game, staying alert to the match situation and working in tandem to build on any individual impact we might have,” she explains.

The Alyssa Healy-led aspect managed to regular a rocky marketing campaign to make it to the knockouts final time. Ecclestone hopes issues aren’t as topsy-turvy, extra so as a result of she feels the group has a degree to show.

“It will be nice to get the Warriorz into the final. Sometimes we don’t get the credit we deserve because we’re one of the smaller teams. We are the underdogs and it’ll be nice to make it to the final and prove everyone wrong,” she says.

Deepti is worked up to be a part of the league’s widening horizons because it strikes to 2 new cities.

“I heard the cheers coming my way in Mumbai. One chant was “Humari beti kaisi ho? Deepti Sharma jaisi ho” (How ought to our daughter be? Like Deepti Sharma). That felt completely unbelievable. We are enjoying in new venues and it’s an opportunity to succeed in out to a complete new set of individuals. We can’t wait,” she concludes