Grace Harris has put a spell on the WPL

Grace Harris is many things. But boring? Nah. Whether at the crease or on the mic, you're drawn in by the possibilities she brings.

After setting the stage alight with a blistering 41-ball 72 in WPL 2023, Harris was asked how she'd celebrate. "Burger and a drink," she quipped.

Sure enough, there was a giant burger waiting for her at the hotel at 3am after she had revelled in the post-match festivities. Harris let it pass quietly, but her cheeky response during the flash interview revealed an instinctive side to her personality.

That side, however, isn't restricted to just the mic. It's how she is on the field too, and most definitely in how she bats.

After years of learning and unlearning, she's realised that if there's a ball to slog sweep despite two fielders patrolling the deep, even the bigger square boundaries aren't a hindrance. She just embraces the challenge of clearing them. Like she did on Monday night, when she walloped Ash Gardner over cow corner. It was one of the many attractive shots she played in her unbeaten 33-ball 60 that handed UP Warriorz their second straight win after opening the tournament with two losses.

She walked into bat in the sixth over of a modest 143 chase and hit two boundaries off her first three deliveries to get going. Kathryn Bryce had just castled Alyssa Healy with late movement as she tried to hack one. Surely there was time for a sighter given the target wasn't big? Nah.

The first ball was short and wide. She threw her hands at it and picked the gap behind point. As a direct consequence, short third was moved squarer to backward point. There was an orthodox point fielder as well to cut off that area. Harris now tactfully nudged one almost exactly where short third had been and found another boundary. She had hardly got her eye in, but was toying with the opposition already.

The Gujarat Giants bowlers kept serving up half-trackers, and Harris wasn't in the mood to let them pass like she did that giant burger. Mannat Kashyap, the rookie left-arm spinner, was frazzled early on. She hopped over to Beth Mooney for a field change. Long-off went to deep cover, mid-on went back. Kashyap generously tossed one up. Harris went boom and cleared the ropes.

In no time, she had raced to 23 off ten balls. In a modest chase, this kind of momentum makes the asking rate irrelevant and it almost doesn't matter even if you lose a few wickets, like the Warriorz eventually did.

Harris can have a mesmeric effect on opponents and team-mates alike. She can give bowlers a feeling of deflation while also being able to reason with them later when they're off the field that they didn't really do much wrong.

Her stable base allows her to access areas all around the wicket. On Friday, she opened with cuts, then played a late cut, walloped balls over long-off, slogged one over cow corner, paddled fast bowlers around the corner and played the ramp to get to her half-century off 30 balls.

The Warriorz were four down in the 11th over of the chase, yet there was hardly any stress within the dugout. Just joy and appreciation at watching a special player put on a blockbuster show.

At 30, Harris is just getting started, making up for all the time she lost in her 20s. Luckily, Australia's system and her own drive to excel brought her back, and the cricket world can't be more thankful.