Joy for De Klerk, despair for Wolvaardt, Kapp and Lee as RCB win WPL final

It was joy for rising Proteas allrounder Nadine de Klerk as she emerged on the winning side after the Royal Challengers Bengaluru clinched a thrilling six wicket win over the Delhi Capitals in the final of the Women’s Premier League (WPL) in India on Thursday night.

But for Proteas captain Laura Wolvaardt, star allrounder Marizanne Kapp and former national player Lizelle Lee, it was despair after they came up short on the losing side to miss out on the title.

It is likely extra painful for Kapp, who has been in every WPL final to date with the Capitals, but lost all four times, while it was Wolvaardt and Lee’s first final appearance.

De Klerk also played in the final for the first time, but previously won the competition with RCB in 2024, but only played one game during that season.

Major role

However, this year she played a major role for her team, featuring in nine matches, and was one of their best players over their title winning campaign.

In the final, the Capitals batted first and amassed 203/4 in their 20 overs, with Lee, 37 off 30 balls (3×4; 3×6), and Wolvaardt, 44 off 25 (3×4; 2×6) both playing their part, along with captain Jemimah Rodrigues, 57 off 37 (8×4), and Chinelle Henry, 35no off 15 (4×4; 2×6).

The RCB bowling attack struggled a bit, with De Klerk picking up the wicket of Lee, but also being expensive with figures of 1/48 in her four overs, while Lauren Bell was their best performer, going for less than five an over in her 0/19 in four overs.

The RCB chase was then spearheaded by captain Smriti Mandhana, 87 off 41 balls (12×4; 3×6) and Geogia Voll, 79 off 54 (14×4), as they shared in a monstrous 165-run second wicket stand, but both fell with the finish line in site.

It was thus left to De Klerk, seven not out off five (1×4), and Radha Yadav, 12 not out off five (2×4), to get them over the line with two balls to spare when 10 was needed off the last over.

The Capitals’ bowlers also found the going tough, with Henry the best of the bunch picking up 2/34 in four overs, while Kapp went wicketless with 0/38 in her four.

Pretty pleased

In all the four South African finalists can be pretty pleased with their work over the WPL, with most of them putting in superb shifts.

De Klerk was the star and was in the running for player of the tournament before losing out to New Zealand’s Sophie Devine, as she finished third on the wicket taking list with 16 scalps, one behind Devine and Nandani Sharma, with best bowling figures of 4/22 and a superb average of 15.68.

She also scored 133 runs at an average of 44.33 and a highest score of 63no, but that wasn’t enough to best Devine who scored 243 runs and a highest score of 95 to go with her wicket topping effort.

Lee and Wolvaardt were two of the tournament’s best batters, finishing fourth and fifth respectively on the run scoring charts, with Lee hitting 320 runs at an average of 32 and highest score of 86, while Wolvaardt scored 317 runs at an average of 45.28 and a highest score of 77.

For Kapp she will likely admit that she had an underwhelming tournament by her high standards, taking 10 wickets at an average of 25.6 and best figures of 3/30, while she scored 49 runs at an average of 12.25 and a highest score of 19no.