Bolton hundred sees WA end on a high, as Vics stumble

A century from Nicole Bolton has helped Western Australia end their Women’s National Cricket League campaign on a positive note, defeating Victoria by eight wickets at the WACA Ground.

Bolton took a single to reach triple figures when WA were just four runs shy of their target of 204, finishing unbeaten on 100 from 105 balls as Mathilda Carmichael (79no) then slashed a boundary to see the hosts home with 10.2 overs to spare.

The emphatic win was not enough for the reigning champions to lift themselves off the bottom of the table, but ensured they sent off off-spinner Emma King in style, after the 28-year-old announced her immediate retirement from all forms of cricket prior to the match.

Earlier, King ensured it would be a farewell match to remember when she took 3-37 to help restrict an understrength Victoria outfit missing seven international players.

It brought to an end a 12-year career with Western Australia, that started when she debuted aged 17 in 2009-10, with King telling The West Australian she was retiring to focus full-time on her teaching career, after seven years of juggling the job with elite cricket.

Victoria, who are set to face either Queensland, New South Wales or South Australia in the WNCL final at Junction Oval next Saturday, continued to hunt for their best XI, making two changes with batter Amy Vine and pace bowler Elly Donald coming into the side in place of Anna Lanning and Ella Hayward.

Electing to bat first, captain Elyse Villani laid a platform but could not go on with her innings, falling to the leg-spin of Alana King for a 65-ball 41. It took her tally of runs for the season to 593, the fourth highest in a single WNCL campaign.

Fellow opener Makinley Blows struggled to rotate the strike, grinding to 12 from 40 deliveries before frustration got the better of her as she top-edged a simple catch to WA wicketkeeper Megan Banting, while Vine fared little better scoring a 40-ball 14.

Kim Garth could not repeat her half-century heroics from Friday’s match, bowled by King for four, but the young trio of Nicole Faltum (39), Tess Flintoff (22), Lucy Cripps (31no) and Sophie Day (17no) all added valuable runs, as Victoria bettered Friday’s total of 155 all out.

When Garth trapped Ashley Day (3) lbw and Courtney Neale bowled Chloe Piparo (7) inside the first six overs of Western Australia’s chase to leave them 2-13, an upset seemed on the cards, but Bolton and Carmichael came together in an unbroken 190-run stand to guide the hosts to victory.

Victoria, who ended the season with consecutive defeats following the departure of their international stars for Australia's tour of New Zealand, will learn their opponent for next Saturday’s final on Sunday, when second-ranked Queensland play NSW Breakers at North Sydney Oval, before South Australia host ACT Meteors in a day-night match in Adelaide.

Queensland are second on the table on 20 points, followed by Tasmania (19 points, but cannot qualify with all their eight matches completed), South Australia (18) and NSW (17).

With torrential rain lashing Sydney on Saturday and more predicted for Sunday, the weather could prove decisive in the race for second spot.