As Western Australia won the Marsh Cup in Perth by a margin of nine wickets, New South Wales was thoroughly disgraced, scoring its lowest total ever in List A cricket.
On Saturday morning, the captains were welcomed by a green WACA surface. Blues captain Kurtis Patterson chose to bat first after winning the toss, but that choice swiftly backfired.
In the Powerplay, West Australian pacemen Jason Behrendorff and Jhye Richardson, who had just returned from injury, performed a swing bowling masterpiece, taking six wickets in a row to completely destroy the Blue’s top order.
In the ninth over, the tourists’ score dropped to 6/20 as Daniel Hughes, Matthew Gilkes, and Jason Sangha all recorded ducks.
At the WACA, the white Kookaburra was hooping around turns and giving the poor hitters a hard time with its inconsistent bounce.
According to Fox Cricket announcer Brenton Speed, “it’s a dreadful start for the visitors.”
With their 38-run partnership for the seventh wicket, all-rounders Sean Abbott and Daniel Sams from New South Wales partially revived the innings and prevented it from going down in history as the lowest domestic one-day cup score.
The Blues were reduced to 76 in 22 overs by West Australian seamers Andrew Tye and Matthew Kelly, who also cleaned up the tail, breaking the state’s previous low score of 92 against Queensland at the Gabba in 1973.
New South Wales’s lowest team totals in domestic one-day cricket
Western Australia vs. Prep 76 in 2022, WACA
1973’s 92 vs. Queensland at the Gabba
SCG, 2008, 112 against. South Australia
1995, SCG, 116 against. Western Australia
Victoria in 2002, 120, MCG
It was the third-lowest score Western Australia had allowed in 50-over cricket, and it was also the seventh-lowest total in Australian men’s one-day domestic history.
While I’m no expert, choosing to bat first against Richardson/Behrendorff/Kelly may not have been the best move, tweeted ABC reporter Sam Tomlin.
Sams led the Blues in scoring with 26; the only other batters to reach double digits were Abbott and Test spinner, Nathan Lyon.
Best Player of the Game Behrendorff concluded with 3/17 from his seven overs, while Richardson finished with career-best numbers of 4/24 from eight overs.
After the win, Richardson remarked, “It’s incredibly wonderful to be able to get back out there on the WACA in a bit of sunshine, take some wickets, and do a job for the team.”
They are the foundation for what will hopefully be a little summer.
“I think it was a good toss to lose because I think the wicket and the conditions were definitely in our favor.”
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