An Allround performance from Nicole Bolton leads to a historic win for WA against NSW in the WNCL final on Sunday by 42 runs at North Sydney Oval.
This was the first time WA has won the championship in the last 24 years of the WNCL.
Winning the toss, WA opted to bat in an all-important final. NSW breakers sadly had to miss their key players like Haynes, Healy, Gardener, and Perry who are on their National duties for the upcoming world cup.
Opting to bat, WA did not have the greatest of the starts as the opener Piparo was cleaned up on 0 by Farrell. The incoming player Heather Graham too departed soon for just 2 runs, it was. again Farrell with the ball. WA struggling at 2 for 8 in 3 overs. From there, it was the senior pro-Nicole Bolton and youngster Ashley Day took the responsibility of building the inning. Both had a partnership of 56 before Day was stumped on 32.
On the other side, Bolton showed all her experience and played a crucial inning of 67 runs which helped the team to end on a reasonable total. Bolton got good support from the lower order batters who chipped in with crucial cameos. With the ball, it was the experienced Farrell picked up 4 wickets and was well supported by Campbell.
WA finished their inning at an above-par total of 231 in 50 overs with the loss of 10 wickets.
Chasing a target of 232, NSW had n excellent start as the openers had a partnership of 64 runs. The openers scored 36 and 37 before Graham gave a breakthrough for WA by removing Trenaman on 37. In came the inform Wilson who had a great season with the bat. Even she had a good start of 26 runs. It looked like easy for NSW till Bolton got the better of Darke on 36.
With the loss of Darke’s wicket, NSW who were playing with an inexperienced middle-order started losing wickets in regular intervals. From 93 for 2, NSW were bowled out for 189. All credits to the experienced trio of Bolton, King and Graham who did the damage for NSW by picking up 3 wickets each.
Though NSW had a great start, because of the inexperience lower order and missing their key players in the final was an advantage for WA won the WNCL for the first time in 24 years.
Nicole Bolton was awarded as both player of the Match and Series as well for her consistent performance throughout the tournament. With this victory, it ended NSW domination in WNCL who have won the tournament 21 times.
On the whole, it was an end of an amazing tournament and nice to see a new team winning the title which will give a lot of confidence to the team in the upcoming season.
Brief Score: WA 231 for 10 in 50 overs( Bolton 67, Farell 4 for 33) defeated NSW 189 for 10 in 49.5 overs ( Trenaman 37, King 3 for 28) by 42 runs.