West Australian spinner Alana King takes two wickets to help Supernovas to first-up win on Indian debut

Alana King, the only Australian playing in India’s Women’s T20 Challenge, has taken two wickets to help her Supernovas team win their opening match. The leg-spinner took 2-30 in her four overs on Monday as Trailblazers, chasing Supernovas’ 163 all out, were restricted to 9-114. The competition is annually billed as the precursor to a Women’s IPL, a promise that may finally come to fruition next year. In the meantime the three-team, four-match event fills the void. Besides King the 12 overseas players include England trio Sophie Ecclestone, Kate Cross and Sophia Dunkley, West Indies’ Deandra Dottin and Hayley Matthews, plus South Africans, Bangladeshis and Thai batter Natthakan Chantam. It was Dottin who set Supernovas off to a flying start with 32 off 17 balls. Harleen Deol (35) and Harmanpreet Kaur (37) built on that with Matthews (3-29) the pick of the bowlers. Smriti Mandhana made 34 as Trailblazers began well but they collapsed for 1-63 to 7-73 as Pooja Vastraker (4-12), Ecclestone (2-19) and King ripped through the middle order. The 49-run victory put Supernovas one foot into Saturday’s final. Victory against Velocity on Tuesday will guarantee it. After moving from Victoria to Western Australia, King burst onto the scene in Australian colours last summer, making her debut in all three international formats and featuring for Australia in their successful World Cup campaign.