Champion Albany trio All-Australian
Albany trio Zane Marwick, Nathan Crudeli and Tim Edmunds have returned from their history-making Australian Country Cricket Championships, helping WA win twin titles before being recognised as members of the All-Australian XII.
The trio were all handed the prestigious All-Australian honours after playing significant roles in WA firstly winning the overall title and then claiming the one-day silverware after victory in last Friday’s final.
In his third tour, Marwick was named as a vice-captain and he produced a wonderful few days with the willow to finish as the competition’s third-leading run scorer.
The crafty left-hander scored 273 runs at an average of 34.1 from his nine innings, including two 50s.
Marwick’s best performance came when he blasted 81 from 67 deliveries to take the game away from South Australia on the day WA wrapped up the overall title.
The 24-year-old also took three catches and snared 2-20 bowling in the one-day final to cap a memorable tournament.
“We played some very good cricket and it was just good to contribute to winning cricket,” Marwick said. “I was hitting a lot of balls in the lead-up and did a lot of work.
“It was good to prove to yourself that you are capable of scoring runs at high level. I was very pleased and take a lot of confidence from that.”
Crudeli spearheaded the WA bowling attack and also earned his first All-Australian honours, in his third tour. The fast bowler took 14 wickets across both the Twenty20 and one-day formats, at an average of 15.2 and an economy rate of four runs per over.
Crudeli, 24, snared three wickets in three separate games and scored with 37 lower-order runs.
“We had a great young team that gelled straight away,” Crudeli said.
“I went into the carnival feeling really good, injury-free and a lot better than last year and I was happy with how I went. To win seven straight after the first day, no one seen that coming but we just got momentum and it was infectious.”
Edmunds, in his first season as coach of the men’s side after three years as manager, was named as the All-Australian coach.
“I think a lot of the States will take a good, hard look at what we did and take things away from it,” he said. “I am so proud of everything we achieved. We followed through on everything we said we were going to do.”
The other Great Southern players all did their bit, with Patrick Butler close to also being named in the All-Australian XII.
Butler was the third-leading wicket-taker at the championships, with 16 wickets at an average of 13.3 and an economy of 3.6.
His best effort was 4-14 in the one-day final, with six catches and a run-out.
All-rounder Jeremy Wood made 89 runs from eight innings at 14.8 and took four wickets at 23.3 to go with four catches.
Late inclusion Nathan Crosby had his best day in the final, scoring 42 to take his tally to 70 runs from seven innings.
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