WA fumble at final hurdle

WA Country has fallen short in their bid for victory on the final day and the overall title at the Australian Country Cricket Championships in Mt Gambier, South Australia yesterday.

Going into the final round of fixtures, there were four teams locked on 16 points, all of which remained in the race to win the championships.

WA and South Australia were joined by New South Wales and Victoria on 16 points after the latter two sides produced victories on Sunday to set up an epic finish to the week-long carnival.

WA won the toss and elected to bat in yesterday's 50-over fixture against South Australia which would help determined the tournament champions.

Their rain-affected innings was never able to get going, however, as constant wickets derailed their chance of posting a large score. Albany's Julian Crudeli batted at number five but was dismissed on three while fellow local player Patrick Butler added just two runs in the lower order.

Fast bowler Hayden Burling, in his first championships, was the last man out for WA when he was run out for a duck as his side limped to 126 all out courtesy of Jono Whitney's unbeaten 54.

In reply South Australia lost two early wickets which included opener James Moss who was caught behind off the bowling of Burling for 8.

Ben Smith and Adam Somerfield steadied the ship for South Australia however with 53 and 25 respectively as their side passed the score with four wickets in hand and more than 10 overs to spare to ensure their side won the title.

Burling bowled 5.1 overs to return figures of 1-21 while Crudeli also did some damage with the ball taking 2-20 off his seven overs.

Butler's leg spin again proved valuable as the youngster took two late wickets to finish with 2-18 off four but it was too little too late.

Crudeli took 3-29 and Butler 2-21 in WA's lost to Victoria on Sunday with Crudeli only contributing 13 with the bat.

In their two-day fixture against East Asia Pacific on Friday and Saturday, Butler took four wickets across both innings and Burling returned tidy figures of 1-14 and 1-37.