When the women’s Hundred got underway a couple of years ago, not many were convinced how the new league would pan out. But it not only added a new dimension to women’s cricket, but also opened a new window of opportunity for players and the coaches.
Jonathan Batty, who guided Oval Invincibles to title win in 2021 and 2022, believes that the tournament ‘revolutionised women’s cricket in the UK’.
A former wicketkeeper-batter at Gloucestershire, Northamptonshire and Surrey, Batty has also been the head coach at Melbourne Stars in the Women’s Big Bash League, besides working with Surrey women’s team.
Keeping his impressive track record in mind, Batty was roped in by Delhi Capitals as its head coach for the Women’s Premier League (WPL).
During the maiden auction in Mumbai earlier this week, Batty used his experience and ensured that Delhi Capitals roped in some of the big names - including the legendary Meg Lanning, Jemimah Rodrigues and Shafali Verma.
And in an exclusive interview with Sportstar, soon after the auction got over at the Jio World Convention Centre, Batty indicated that Australian skipper Lanning is certainly ‘one of the candidates’ who are in the contention to lead the Capitals in the inaugural edition of the WIPL, which begins in Mumbai from March 4.
Excerpts
How satisfied are you with the way the auction panned out for Delhi Capitals?
We are really happy. I think we have done some really good business. We had our plans for the day - some came through, some did not - but I am really happy with the squad we have put together.
There was not much time ahead of the auction. How did you put the house in order in such a short time? What was the strategy?
I flew down to Mumbai on Saturday morning, so we spent two full days - nine to ten hours a day working through different players. We tried to collate thoughts on different players and worked on our strategy for the auction. We got a great backroom team; obviously, these guys have worked in a lot of auctions as well, so they were guiding us on strategies.
We, obviously, were imparting the cricket knowledge and on the international players. The domestic coaches were sharing inputs on domestic players, and obviously, you bring those thoughts all together. Then we went to the auction and did the best we could.
You have been part of The Hundred, Women’s Big Bash League, so when you came into the WPL auction, what was the idea behind picking Jemimah Rodrigues, Shafali Verma and the legendary Meg Lanning? Was the decision taken keeping the leadership role in mind?
If you look at Meg Lanning as a player, she’s one of the best if not the greatest women’s cricketer of all times. She’s been the Australian captain now for a long period. Clearly she’s a huge leadership candidate.
We have got Shafali Verma, who’s been identified as one of the future leaders of Indian cricket. What a great opportunity it is for her to learn from a superstar like Meg Lanning.
We know Jemi has got leadership credentials. Jess Jonassen captains in the WBBL for Brisbane Heat. So, we’ve got lots of leadership within that team. Marizanne Kapp will lead the seam bowling attack.
We’ve got huge amounts of depth in knowledge, experience. We have got some great young players as well like Alex Capsey and Shafali. Over the next two or three years, they could become two of the greatest players in the world at that time. So, we are really happy with that balance.
Do we see Lanning as the captain for the first season at least? And, also if you could explain what does someone like Lanning bring to the table?
Yeah, she’s one of those candidates. To answer the second question, Meg Lanning is an outstanding natural leader with great experience, fantastic decision-maker, hugely respected. So, she is probably the greatest player that’s ever played the game in the women’s arena.
It’s great to have that balance, so that these girls - not just the ones in the starting XI, but the ones who made the wider squad as well - watch how these global superstars, who have dominated the Women’s International scene for 10 years or so, prepare. It will be an invaluable experience for them and hopefully, it will accelerate their development.
You have seen how The Hundred revolutionised cricket. Many believe that the WPL should have come sooner, but now that it’s about to begin, what are your expectations from the tournament?
We have seen in two years that The Hundred has actually revolutionised women’s cricket in the UK. Women’s cricket is the biggest growth sport in the UK. Obviously, we’re hoping it has the same impact here in India. But actually this is more of a global spectrum now, which actually could change women’s sport globally.
You look around the money and fame that have been plowed in there and it’s fantastic. So, if you are a young woman now growing up, you can see a career pathway where you can earn that kind of money, be on that kind of global stage with so many people watching you - similar to what happened to the men’s IPL that revolutionsed the game globally and how it enhanced the game in India and its performance around the world. I am sure you’re gonna see some of it in women’s cricket, too.
Delhi Capitals has Ricky Ponting and Sourav Ganguly as its key coaching staff for the men’s IPL. Were their suggestions taken before coming into the WPL auction?
We spoke to Sourav on a couple of occasions. He has experienced lots of auctions and stuff, so he just gave his thoughts as well. And yeah, we will be at Delhi capitals family across all the franchises, so we will always share those thoughts. So it’s invaluable having that kind of experience in the back room.
With just a fortnight to go for the WPL, what’s the plan in terms of preparation?
We are going to bring the players together. We’re going to obviously find out when we can all come together quickly. It will probably be in Mumbai. Obviously, we are already based here, so I’m looking forward to getting to Delhi at some point. I’ve never been there before. I have been to India a few times before. I love India. Obviously great people. But we need other girls here for a little bit of camp.
The international players will join us when they’re done with the World Cup. The final is on (February) 26th, so they’ll probably have four days or so leading into the first game which should be fine because they’ve been playing a lot these days.
With hardly any time, how challenging will it be for the international players to come into the set-up and gel with the other members of the team?
You might think so, but actually what you’ll find is that players gel very, very quickly. I mean, at The Hundred we’d only have a week leading in, so we are gonna have a very similar time here. And, a lot of the players know each other anyway, the domestic players and the international players will have played at other franchises together. We’ve actually got a great set of people. You look at the characters within the group and we know they will gel really quickly and actually hit the ground running.
The entire tournament will be played in Mumbai. How much of an advantage will that be for the teams?
With the time scales, we had to be in one place because there wasn’t obviously time to buzz around. I think it’s gonna be great. It would be awesome for us to be back in Delhi playing in front of our home fans next year. We are looking forward to getting that up and running.
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