Tough start for WA at country champs

The WA Country XI men’s side has finished the Twenty20 format of the Australian Country Cricket Championships in Geraldton with one win, after a disappointing first three days of the carnival.

WA’s bid to reach Sunday’s final of the T20 competition were dealt a blow on the opening day after losses to New South Wales and Queensland in the short format.

However, they recovered to beat Victoria in a six-run thriller on Saturday to remain alive, but a loss to East Asia Pacific later that day ended their hopes of making the decider.

WA then fell three runs short of victory in their final round-robin match against South Australia on Sunday to finish the T20 competition with one win and four losses.

Local players Zane Marwick (Railways), Nathan Crudeli (Railways) and Jeremy Wood (Mt Barker) are representing the Albany Cricket Association at the championships.

Marwick made 16 runs from 15 balls in the tight win over Victoria to help WA reach 6-109 batting first.

Crudeli then impressed with the ball, taking 1-17 from three overs to help restrict Victoria to 8-103 in reply.

In the T20s, Crudeli took a wicket in every match, his five scalps coming at an average of 20.6 and an economy rate of 5.8 runs per over.

Wood’s best performance of the T20s came against Queensland, taking 1-11 with the ball and then making 13 at the top of the order as WA fell just short, making 5-112 in their chase of 114 to win.

Marwick made 21 runs from his three innings in the T20 format.

Former Albany resident Tim Hutchison impressed with the ball for WA, taking seven wickets in the T20s, while Williams batsman Rodney Ford top scored with 36 against eventual T20 champions NSW.

The men’s division switches to one-day games today after resting yesterday, with WA up against Victoria this morning and Queensland tomorrow.

Meanwhile, the women’s division began on Sunday featuring Albany’s Bonnie Crook and Mt Barker junior Georgie Middleton.

WA suffered a 66-run loss to South Australia in their opening T20 and were then bowled out for 60 as Queensland cruised to a seven-wicket win later that day.

Middleton snared 2-25 in game one and then 1-0 against Queensland, while Crook made two runs in the second match.

The women’s side faced NSW and East Asia Pacific yesterday in T20 matches.