Albany and Districts thumped in senior country week A-section grand final against BDCA at WACA

Albany and Districts Cricket Association’s hopes of Boan Cup redemption were thwarted on Friday at the WACA after they were thrashed by rivals Bunbury and Districts in the senior country week A-section grand final. The Whalers lost last year’s semifinal to Peel and despite making this year’s decider without star players Nathan Crudeli and Jeremy Wood, they endured a disappointing 144-run loss to Bunbury and Districts 1 on Friday. They showed their mettle with a five-wicket semifinal win over Esperance on Thursday but were left to rue a poor batting display in the grand final. Bunbury and Districts won the toss and elected to bat first, posting a strong total of 9-235 before ripping through the Whalers batting order for just 91 runs in a rampant display. The Whalers were encouraged early after English import James Bottomley tempted Bunbury opener Bradman May to nick one to the grateful hands of keeper Seb Stanton. It took until the 22nd over for the next wicket to fall as Tyne Dodds (31) was trapped in front by Lincoln Joy. Robbie Dawson (28 runs) and Blake Malatesta (12) were dismissed by Teague Valli and Oliver Davidson respectively before opener Mitchell Boyle was finally knocked over by Bottomley after a terrific 62 to leave Bunbury at 5-155. Bunbury and Districts’ Cooper Dehring (50) dug in with a half-century while tail-ender Cory Fitt added 24 not out as they surpassed 200. Bottomley (3-35 from nine overs) was the pick of the Whalers bowlers while Coen Marwick also contributed with 2-23 and Davidson returned 1-54 from 18 overs. The Whalers started their run chase on shaky ground after Ryley Valli edged one through to wicketkeeper May and then Joy pushed one to square leg to be caught off the bowling of Liam Renton for a duck. Marwick departed cheaply, caught behind in the eighth over from the bowling of Zane Verhaaf, leaving the Whalers in all sorts of trouble at 3-15. Verhaaf continued his dominance with the ball, snaring the wickets of Davidson (9) and Stanton (0) to further compound the misery as the Whalers who limped to 5-27. Opener Myles Holland did his best to hold the innings together but runs were hard to come by and he was quickly running out of partners. The Whalers had some late contributions from Alex Garlick (12), Bottomley (13) and Teague Valli (10) but they were knocked over for a paltry 91 runs as the Bunbury and Districts secured back-to-back A-section grand final wins in dominant fashion. Holland was the final wicket to fall after absorbing plenty of pressure in his marathon 152-minute innings. The Englishman top scored with 31 from 121 balls in the 60-over contest but the Whalers were bowled out in the 41st over. In their semifinal on Thursday, the Whalers cruised to a comfortable win against Esperance after chasing down the small target of 117 in only 34 overs. Davidson had a day out with the ball, taking 4-27 and he was well supported by Bottomley (2-8), Joy (2-23) and Ryan Kinnear (2-13). Ryley Valli’s wicket fell early but a hardy 80-run stand from Holland (32) and Joy (43) steadied things before Joy, Marwick (7) and Holland were dismissed in the space of three overs. Stanton was the last wicket to fall on six but Garlick scored the winning run with a quick single to send the Whalers into another decider. Whalers captain Marwick said despite a tough outing in the decider, he was proud of the effort from the squad throughout their campaign. “Losing the toss and bowling first wasn’t the ideal result, it was really hot out in the field at about 40C so that drained the boys a little bit,” he said. “We didn’t get off to a great start, they got their tails up and bowled really good line and length. “It would have been good if someone could bat with Myles (Holland) for a bit and steady the ship but it was just one of those days. “I was really proud of the boys throughout the week, a special mention to Alex Garlick and Lincoln Joy. “Both had a really big week and Myles (Holland) had a really good week with the bat as well so it was a good effort from the whole group. “It was a really young group so there were promising signs for the association going forward, there’s a bright future.” Garlick was the fourth highest wicket-taker across the competition with 12 scalps, while Joy made the third most runs with 186, just behind Upper Great Southern’s Arron Quartermaine (215) and Bunbury and Districts’ Robbie Dawson (230).