She began with three success boundaries against her name, and ended up with figures of 5/38 in her four overs. Amelia Kerr, who’s bagged the Purple Cap in the course of this game, led the Mumbai Indians to a comprehensive six-wicket win over the UP Warriorz in Lucknow. Excerpts from her post-match press conference.

On being hit for three consecutive boundaries at the start

It’s not the way you want to start a spell. My first ball, I mis-executed and then the next two were edges for four, which you can’t control. I thought I bowled in good areas but they were edges for four which happens in cricket at times. But with the first three overs going for 12, I was just looking to get out of that over and not make it a huge over. The first ball deserved four but the in the next two, I was unlucky.

Whether the WPL experience will help during the World Cup later in the year

At the moment my focus is the WPL and trying to put our performances for Mumbai and be the best player I can be for Mumbai. I want to try and win the competition with them. Obviously, playing in India is great preparation and you get great experience, but it is a different format when we come back later in the year for the World Cup.

On MI’s success formula

We’ve kept things pretty consistent. We’ve got a core group who’ve been with the team from year one to year three. It’s quite nice for the group. You can build relations of trust and have that family feeling you have with Mumbai with the fans and the people within the group and the owners. That is really important and hopefully that can help us be successful.

On the onfield tiff between Harmanpreet Kaur and Sophie Ecclestone

I was just trying to diffuse the situation. Harman and Sophie got a little heated out there. Both of them are passionate cricketers and competitive. I am a bit more laid back and I was having a bit of a joke with them both and trying to calm the situations. It was just to do with the over-rate. She (Harman) was just asking why we couldn’t start the over earlier because we were ready and waiting. But it showed on the clock that we were behind time. It is something we’ve got to get better as a team because later on in the comp, it can be a real advantage to the batting side. We have to find ways to be quicker. It’s not Harman’s responsibility. It is us as a team because she’s got so much to focus on. We’ve got to be quicker between the overs as a fielding group.

On getting to open the batting

It is nice to get the opportunity to open the batting. It didn’t come off, but for New Zealand and other teams around the world, I bat at three, so it isn’t very different to opening. It was just to get Yastika (in the middle-order) and have a left-hander in the middle-order. We’ll see what happens but is a nice opportunity. Nice to see Hayley (Matthews) go really well today.

On missing out on the Player of the Match award to Hayley

I think there’s a balance. Hayley is an all-rounder. She got runs and wickets today. She contributed in both facets of the game. No one plays for the awards. You don’t care about the awards. You care about the wins for the team. Whether you’re getting an award or not doesn’t bother me. It is all about trying to win games for Mumbai.