By Helen Maynard-Casely
A bleary cloudy day greeted spectators at Cricket Central, probably matching the weary badgers who had watched Australia’s wobble and recover against Pakistan late the night before. But this game was game much brighter than the dull clouds skirting the sky: NSW won the toss, elected to bat, and so started a proper WNCL classic.
The NSW team was unchanged from the side that won twice against Victoria in round one, while WA made one change from their travails against Queensland. This was due to Heather Graham’s call-up to the national side, meaning Rebecca McGrath gained her first WA cap.
WA started well, pinning down openers Mack and Wilson with the new ball, the culmination of which was an easy catch by Hinkley at mid-on of Wilson off Peschels’s bowling. This brought Anika Learoyd to the middle, who with Mack set in to build a sizable partnership. Overs of worker-like rotation of the strike kept the scoreboard ticking over, and by drinks after the 17th over, the WA bowlers didn’t quite know what to do.
Spinner Manolini came on, but Mack and Learoyd continued to match each other both in runs scored and balls faced – bringing up their fifties in overs 23 and 24 respectively. Following a mini-drinks break after the 25th over it was clear the batters wanted to move things on, with both Mack and Learoyd advancing down the wicket – intimidating and pushing up the run rate. The conclusion came in the 29th over with Mack being caught at mid-off by a reaching Piparo off McGrath’s bowling. She returned to the pavilion with 69 runs off 85 balls.
Learoyd and Claire Moore picked up where Mack had left off, running singles and giving WA fielders quite the run around. Learoyd pushed into the 90’s courtesy of a square leg boundary, looking relatively untroubled by the bowling attack throughout, even after catching an earlier delivery on the glove. She powered to her century with consecutive boundaries. However, soon after Learoyd was run out at the non-strikers end, bowler Ebony Hoskin tapping the return from Moore onto the wicket – a whimper of an end to an excellent batting innings. Moore continued in a similar vein, lofting a massive 6 that had the WA fielder vaulting the advertising hoarding to retrieve. She fell just after reaching 50, caught at deep mid-on. An entertaining cameo partnership between Georgia Adams and Maitlan Brown at the end, saw the total inflate to 298 after 50 overs.
Pescel was the pick of the WA bowlers, her nippy skiddy balls returned an excellent economy of 2.62 from her 8 overs, leaving spectators slightly perplexed why Hoskin (economy rate 5.2) and Mills (6.60) were bowled out in her stead. New cap McGrath picked up two wickets, but NSW were largely able to bat as planned with WA unable to put them under enough pressure. 299 was the target.
After the innings break WA’s openers got off to a flying start, making the most of the powerplay, and getting to 56 runs by the end of the 9th over. Maddy Darke in particular drove several boundaries off the opening seam bowling. The wily spin of Samatha Bates in the 9th over brought about the change, with Chloe Piparo caught at mid-off by Lauren Kua executing an excellent running catch. This brought Mikayla Hinkley to the crease. Piparo’s wicket at the end of the powerplay began a swing of momentum back to NSW, as Caoimhe Bray and Bates teamed up with some tight bowling to slow WA’s run rate down. By the 16th over the strain showed on the WA batters with Hinkley hampered by some serious cramping. She batted for two more overs before retiring hurt on 21.
Hinkley was replaced by Mathilda Carmichael, who formed a steady partnership with Darke, working similarly to Mack and Learoyd and keeping the required run rate in check. At 25 overs, WA were neck-and-neck with the NSW score (each being 126/1 at this point), and again at 30 overs (157/1 vs 157/2 for NSW at the same point). This matching continued to over 40 – WA were 213/2 after losing Darke for 73 to a sharp direct hit run-out from Kua, and nothing separated them from NSW who were 214/2 at the same point.
Tension built though the last 10 overs, the school holiday vibe of the first innings into the second (kids running everywhere, liberal shouts of ‘great shot’) waned, and finger nails started to be bitten. The 40th over was a flashpoint with the dangerous Bhavisha Devchand run out on 33 by some brilliant work by Tahlia Wilson behind the stumps, despite a slightly wayward throw from fielder Kua. Any relief that NSW may have felt at this point disappeared as Hinkely marched back to the crease – cramp or no cramp she was there to get her team over the line. Teaming with Carmichael, they wrestled the momentum back to WA for the next few overs. The grit particularly from Carmichael batting was evident, but she fell to a full toss from Brown, chipping over her shoulder to a waiting Bates.
McGrath joined Hinkey, who was limping again by this stage, and each took on Brown’s bowling, with McGrath getting a 6 into the trees. Hinkley brought up her 50, and by the start of the 49th over, with 19 needed off 12, it looked like WA were going to make it. But with one shot too many, Hinkley was caught at square leg by Sarah Coyte, one of two wickets during an excellent penultimate over from captain Cheatle. This was the final stumble for WA, and after a tidy final over from Bates, they finished just short on 291.
It was a match for the ages – the closest WNCL match so far this season – WA’s heroic efforts meaning that Saturday’s second match-up could be a classic again.
Helen (Crystallised Cricket) is a writer based in Dharug and Gundagarra country, and here is writing about a game played on Dharug country. She acknowledges the traditional owners of the lands that she writes from.
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