Domestic kings WA claim third Marsh Cup in a row

Kings of men's domestic cricket, Western Australia, have overcome a nervy chase to claim their third straight Marsh One-Day Cup with a five-wicket win over NSW in Sydney.

A disciplined bowling display vindicated skipper Sam Whiteman's decision to send the Blues into bat as the hosts were dismissed for 169 in 42 overs at Cricket Central on Sunday.

But a spirited NSW reduced the two-time reigning champions to 3-30 on a slowish surface hosting just its second men's 50-over match to keep themselves in the hunt.

Hilton Cartwright, who claimed a spectacular match-defining catch when these two sides last met in a final in 2021-22, proved the difference once again, with a classy unbeaten 73 from 80 to see WA home with more than 16 overs to spare.

He smashed Tanveer Sangha for six onto the road to seal victory in the 34th over as WA claimed an unprecedented 17th One-Day Cup title.

It's also their third Marsh Cup triumph in a row, having defeated NSW in 2021-22 to kick off their domestic dynasty before beating South Australia last season.

They have now won the past five trophies (three Marsh Cups and two Sheffield Shields) on offer in men's state cricket, as well as two KFC BBL championships for the Perth Scorchers in that period, becoming just the second state to claim a men's One-Day Cup three-peat after NSW, who have done so twice from 1991-92 to 1993-94 and 2000-01 2002-03.

Opener Josh Philippe (42) provided valuable support in 49-run fourth wicket stand, Nick Hobson also chipping in with a crucial 26 not out to get WA over the line.

Jackson Bird (1-27 off nine), Jack Edwards (1-22 and a stunning diving grab at cover to dismiss Philippe) and Chris Green (1-35) bowled stoically but were hampered by too few runs on the board as WA reached 5-170 in the chase.

Young gun Ollie Davies (51 off 53 balls) was the only NSW batter to truly get going in the morning, sharing a 74-run fourth wicket stand with captain Moises Henriques (32) in an evenly contested opening 30 overs.

Davies looked capable of going on to make a big score, but when he picked out Andrew Tye at fine leg off Joel Paris in the 34th over, NSW collapsed, losing their last seven wickets for 34 runs.

Paris, playing his first one-day game of the season having dominated in the Sheffield Shield with 30 wickets at 14.70, cleaned up the tail to finish with 4-21 from nine overs – the equal second-best return of his List A career.

With the SCG unavailable having already switched to footy mode, Cricket NSW's new facility at Sydney Olympic Park stepped up to host the 2023-24 Marsh Cup decider with only one men's List A match held at the venue previously, coincidentally between the same sides in November.

Tye (2-39) got the opening wicket with Edwards also picking out the fielder in the deep on the leg side as scoring proved tough on the relatively new wicket square.

When Ashton Agar (2-35) removed dangerman Daniel Hughes – who put NSW into the decider with his 11th one-day ton, the most of any current player – lbw for 25 attempting a sweep, WA were on top early.

Davies and Henriques built a solid platform, but the wheels fell off when they both departed in the space of two overs as NSW slid from 3-135 to all out exactly 10 overs after Agar claimed a sharp return catch to remove the Blues skipper.

A comical 'double play' run out summed up the hosts' collapse, Matt Gilkes forced to depart as the first batter caught short when a mix-up with Will Salzmann resulted in the stumps being broken at both ends with neither batter in their ground.

Paris, Tye and Agar all claimed multiple wickets, while Cooper Connolly (1-41 from 10 overs) and Jason Behrendorff (0-30 from seven) also bowled economically.

WA shrugged off the loss of star allrounder Aaron Hardie to a calf strain, with rising WA spin-bowling allrounder Connolly bowling superbly in his first match since the Big Bash after recovering from a quad strain.

Cameron Green was also missing after joining the Australian Test squad in New Zealand.

WA also remain in the hunt for a Sheffield Shield three-peat – which would be their second time achieving such feat (1986-87 to 1988-89) – as they currently sit third on the table with two rounds to play, 6.47 points adrift of Tasmania in first, who face second-placed Victoria in their next match.

NSW, who have returned to the peak of men's domestic cricket after a wretched run last summer, also remain in the Shield final race in fourth with less than two points separating them from WA.

Marsh Cup 2023-24 standings

Team	Matches played M	Wins W	Losses L	Ties T	No results N/R	Net Run Rate NRR	Deductions Ded.	Batting Bonus Bat	Total points PTS
1 NSW Men NSW	7	5	2	0	0	0.33	0	2	22
2 Western Australia Men WA	7	5	2	0	0	0.543	0	1	21
3 Victoria Men VIC	7	5	2	0	0	0.232	0	1	21
4 Tasmanian Tigers Men TAS	7	3	4	0	0	-0.201	0	1	13
5 Queensland Bulls QLD	7	1	5	0	1	-0.735	0	1	7
6 South Australia Men SA	7	1	5	0	1	-0.327	1	0	5

Legend

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