Ismail, Connell, Campbelle hand TKR first defeat of season

Amazon Warriors' win on Saturday threw the tournament open, leaving all four teams in contention for the title.

After establishing themselves as the early pace-setters this season, TKR were hunting for their third successive win after Deandon Dottin, Marizanne Kapp and Shikha Pandey shared six wickets among them to limit Amazon Warriors to a sub-120 total.

Shabnim Ismail, who is arguably the fastest bowler in women's cricket right now, and Shamilia Connell then made Amazon Warriors' total look bigger by reducing TKR to 22 for 5 in the powerplay. Ismail cranked it up to speeds close to 115kph, accounting for TKR's top three: Yastika Bhatia (6), Laura Harris (0) and Dottin (13). When Jahzara Claxton was bowled for a duck, TKR slumped further to 43 for 6 in the 11th over.

Amazon Warriors' wicketkeeper-batter Shemaine Campbelle (31 off 28) was the only batter to pass 30 from either side in this low-scorer. She, along with Erin Burns, helped Amazon Warriors to recover after they had suffered a top-order meltdown of their own. But from 56 for 3, they were able to post 119, which was more than enough for the Warriors in the end.

Ismail was named Player of the Match for her figures of 4-0-21-3, which took the pitch out of the equation. "We were disappointed after the first game and we knew we needed to correct it in this game. TKR have a word-class line-up, so we knew we need to be spot-on in the beginning," Ismail said. "Myself and Connell were not great in the powerplay in our first game, but we needed to fix it in this game.

"I think I was just hitting the right line and length today. I didn't try to do anything fancy upfront. It just boils down to execution and it came off today. They [Team-mates] say we [Connell and myself] are the two clowns in the team because we make everyone laugh. We were also watching what Marizanne Kapp did and wanted to do something similar to what Kapp did. I love bowling with Connell. She is always fun."