Bell strikes the right notes for RCB with new ball

Bowling fast with the new ball in the T20 format tends to be a double-edged sword. There is an opportunity for early wickets to be snared, but all it takes is for the bowler to err slightly in line or length for the glossy white Kookaburra to travel a fair distance beyond the boundary.

So far in this year’s Women’s Premier League, it is to Lauren Bell’s credit that she has shown the new ball to be a boon rather than a bane. The tall England pacer has done so by finding an immaculate length and giving the ball a chance to swing. It has provided stupendous results, with Bell’s eight wickets in four games at a miserly economy of 5.31 in her maiden WPL campaign contributing greatly to Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s perfect streak of four wins in four matches.

In a format where dot balls are like gold dust for the bowling unit, the 25-year-old hasn’t allowed a run to be scored off 59 of the 96 deliveries she has bowled. The tone was set in this WPL’s very first encounter, between RCB and Mumbai Indians on January 9, when Bell kicked off proceedings with a maiden over to Amelia Kerr.

In RCB’s most recent victory against Delhi Capitals on Saturday, the young seamer was impeccable. While Smriti Mandhana’s knock of 96 grabbed the headlines, Bell’s three scalps laid the foundation for a relatively straightforward chase.

She struck twice in the very first over by castling Lizelle Lee and Laura Wolvaardt. Bell employed the outswinger to bowl Lee around her legs, and then delivered an inducker that breached the gap between Wolvaardt’s bat and pad.

When Shafali Verma threatened to take the game away, the spearhead came back in the 17th over and deceived the daredevil opener with a back-of-the-hand slower ball.

“I am in this team to take wickets and creating pressure is the best way to do that,” Bell told the broadcaster during the mid-innings break.

As the action moves to the Kotambi Stadium in Vadodara on Monday, RCB will expect more of the same from its new-ball weapon.