Their recent history suggests NSW and WA are set to produce a captivating Marsh One-Day Cup final at Cricket Central
All you need to know for the Marsh Cup final
Match facts
Who: NSW v Western Australia
What: 2023-24 Marsh One-Day Cup final
When: Sunday February 25. Coin toss at 9.20am AEDT, first ball at 10.05am AEDT
Where: Cricket Central, Sydney
How to watch: Stream live and free via the CA Live app and cricket.com.au or watch via Fox Cricket or Kayo Sports
Officials: Shawn Craig and Sam Nogajski (standing), Gerard Abood (third), Steve Davis (match referee)
Live scores: Match Centre
Highlights, news and reactions after the match: cricket.com.au, the CA Live app
How did they reach the final?
NSW finished on top of the standings on 22 points but had the same number of wins (5) as the two teams below them. Separating them from the pack was an additional bonus point to put them ahead of Western Australia and Victoria.
Western Australia snuck into the top two to qualify for the decider by net run-rate (NRR). It was a tight margin to edge them ahead of Victoria with WA having a NRR of 0.543 compared to Victoria's 0.232.
NSW defeated Victoria by seven wickets with seven balls remaining under the DLS method in the final game of the season to secure top spot, while WA beat Tasmania by 52 runs away from home in their last game to sneak into second.
Squads
NSW: Jackson Bird, Joel Davies, Ollie Davies, Ben Dwarshuis, Jack Edwards, Matthew Gilkes, Chris Green, Liam Hatcher, Moises Henriques (c), Daniel Hughes, Blake Macdonald, Jack Nisbet, William Salzmann, Tanveer Sangha
Western Australia: Sam Whiteman (c), Ashton Agar, Cameron Bancroft, Mahli Beardman, Jason Behrendorff, Hilton Cartwright, Cooper Connolly, Cameron Gannon, Nick Hobson, Joel Paris, Josh Philippe, D’Arcy Short, Andrew Tye
Form guide
NSW: WWWWLLW (most recent first)
The Blues went on a four-game winning run to reach this season's decider, defeating WA in consecutive matches either side of the Big Bash break. Their form has been built on the back of their bowling attack, claiming all 10 opposition wickets in each of those four wins, led by Jack Edwards (13 wickets), William Salzmann (12) and Ben Dwarshuis (11), who are among the top seven wicket-takers this season.
Western Australia: WLWLWWW
Needing a win in their final game of the regular season to keep their hopes of a three-peat alive, WA's experienced campaigners delivered when the pressure was on with a century to D'Arcy Short (127), 64 to Cameron Bancroft, and three wickets from Ashton Agar edging out Tasmania to give the state another crack at the silverware.
Recent history
WA is chasing a third consecutive crown which would see them join NSW (2000-01 to 2002-03 and 1991-92 to 1993-94) as just the second state to claim a One-Day Cup three-peat.
This strong run of form has seen WA lose just four of their past 22 one-day games over the past three seasons.
NSW last won a title in 2020-21 when they defeated WA by 102 runs. NSW were runners-up in the following season after losing to WA by 18 runs in the final.
Last season, NSW finished fifth before climbing back into the top two this campaign.
NSW chased down WA's 161 with five wickets in hand and 17.4 overs remaining at the WACA on February 1 when the two sides last met this season.
Head-to-head
Overall: NSW (36 wins), Western Australia (29 wins), tied (1)
At Cricket Central: NSW (1 win), Western Australia (0 wins)
In the final: NSW (5 wins), Western Australia (4 wins)
Most runs (since 2014): Daniel Hughes (550), Moises Henriques (353), Shaun Marsh (277), Josh Philippe (259), Ed Cowan (219)
Most wickets (since 2014): Andrew Tye (21), Jhye Richardson (11), Jason Behrendorff (11), Sean Abbott (10), Gurinder Sandhu (8)
Players to watch
NSW's Daniel Hughes has been in sublime form again this Marsh Cup season scoring the most runs of any player (428). Remarkably, he has the most hundreds one-day domestic hundreds (11) among players that have never played international cricket (the next best is four).
Alongside Hughes is Moises Henriques who has also had a strong campaign, scoring the fourth most runs this season with 332.
In the WA side, skipper Sam Whiteman is the only player to feature in the top 10 batters for runs scored this season with the No.4 tallying 416 runs, the second most in the competition. His season included a maiden one-day domestic century to get his side over the line in a nail-biter against South Australia.
The NSW bowling attack has featured a widespread of contributors all season with tall quick Jack Edwards the pick of them with a competition-leading 13 wickets.
Their 20-year-old right-armer William Salzmann has taken 12 wickets while Ben Dwarshuis also features in the top 10 with 11.
WA's bowling attack has been led by Andrew Tye (13) who is level with Edwards and Victoria's Will Sutherland and Sam Elliott at the top of the Marsh Cup wickets tally this season.
Rapid stats
- NSW have won four of their last six Marsh One-Day Cup games against Western Australia, including their last two in a row. The last time they won more than two straight games against Western Australia in the competition was a three-game stretch from 2011 to 2012.
- Western Australia haven’t won against NSW in Sydney in the Marsh One-Day Cup since an eight-run victory at Drummoyne Oval in September 2019, losing three such fixtures in a row since.
- NSW have won their last four consecutive Marsh One-Day Cup games after winning only three of their previous 11 games in the competition.
- Western Australia have won nine of their last 10 Marsh One-Day Cup games outside Perth; however, their only loss in that period came against NSW at Cricket Central earlier this season.
- Western Australia will be looking to win a third consecutive edition of the Marsh One-Day Cup, a feat last achieved by NSW from 2000-01 to 2002-03. Western Australia (16) and NSW (12) have won more One-Day Cup titles than any other teams.
- NSW have a bowling dot ball rate of 70 per cent during the Powerplay in the 2023-24 Marsh One-Day Cup, the highest of any team in the competition. NSW duo Ben Dwarshuis (93) and Jackson Bird (83) are two of just four players to have bowled more than 80 dot balls during the Powerplay in this campaign.
- NSW have hit 10-plus sixes in two of their last four Marsh One-Day Cup games after doing so only once in their previous 12 games in the competition. Conversely, they were hit for six 17 times in their last game against Victoria which was the first time they conceded 10 in a game since October 2019.
- Western Australia duo Jason Behrendorff (35 per cent of 180 balls) and Andrew Tye (34.9 per cent of 315 balls) have drawn false shots from batters at a higher rate than any other bowlers in the 2023-24 Marsh One-Day Cup (min. 180 deliveries).
- Daniel Hughes (NSW) has scored 50-plus runs in eight of his last 12 innings in the Marsh One-Day Cup including four centuries. However, he’s scored just 95 runs at an average of 23.8 across his last four innings against Western Australia in the competition.
- Sam Whiteman (Western Australia) has scored 42 runs via sweep shots this Marsh One-Day Cup season, more than any other player in the competition and three times as many as any NSW player.
Marsh Cup 2023-24 standings
| Team | M | W | L | T | N/R | NRR | Ded. | Bat | PTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1
NSW
|
7 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0.33 | 0 | 2 | 22 |
|
2
WA
|
7 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0.543 | 0 | 1 | 21 |
|
3
VIC
|
7 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0.232 | 0 | 1 | 21 |
|
4
TAS
|
7 | 3 | 4 | 0 | 0 | -0.201 | 0 | 1 | 13 |
|
5
QLD
|
7 | 1 | 5 | 0 | 1 | -0.735 | 0 | 1 | 7 |
|
6
SA
|
7 | 1 | 5 | 0 | 1 | -0.327 | 1 | 0 | 5 |
M: Matches played
W: Wins
L: Losses
T: Ties
N/R: No results
NRR: Net Run Rate
Ded.: Deductions
Bat: Batting Bonus
PTS: Total points