South Australia 124 (Couch 4-33) & 66 for 4 (Sangha 24*) beat Western Australia 120 (Fanning 49) & 66 (Turner 30, McAndrew 7-11) by six wickets
Paceman Nathan McAndrew took a remarkable 7 for 11 to lead South Australia to a crushing six-wicket Sheffield Shield win over defending champions Western Australia at the WACA Ground.
A whopping 20 wickets fell on the opening day on Saturday, with WA skittled for 120 before SA were dismissed for 124. There was even more carnage on Sunday, with Western Australia slumping to 13 for 5 before being rolled for 66 within the space of a session.
It left South Australia with a meagre victory target of 63, and the visitors eased to the total before tea on day two, with Jason Sangha and opener Conor McInerney leading the way.
WA entered the round in fourth spot, and the heavy loss has put a huge dent in their hopes of snaring a fourth consecutive Sheffield Shield crown.
Ladder leaders South Australia, with four wins, two draws and a loss from seven matches, are in the box seat to host the Shield final.
SA’s first-innings lead of just four runs didn’t seem like much at the time, but WA lost three second-innings wickets before they were able to erase the deficit.
WA were 0 for 2 and 0 for 3 as Sam Fanning, Teague Wyllie and Jayden Goodwin all fell in the blink of an eye. Hilton Cartwright was the next to fall when McAndrew pulled off a brilliant, one-handed catch while falling to the ground off his own bowling.
And McAndrew had the remarkable figures of 4 for 2 from 3.2 overs when Joel Curtis edged him behind in the seventh over of the innings.
WA were 13 for 5 at that point, and in danger of not passing the lowest ever Shield total – the 27 South Australia posted against NSW in Sydney in 1955.
Ashton Turner and Keaton Critchell combined for a 39-run stand to at least steer WA away from setting any all-time lows. But it was only a momentary reprieve, with McAndrew and Jordan Buckingham racing through the middle order and tail to ensure WA didn’t even last the session.
“Macca’s been one of the best in the country for the last couple of years, and he prides himself on winning us games in positions like that,” SA captain Ben Manenti said. “He’s done it again for us.”
WA’s poor Shield display continued a worrying trend this summer. In October, they suffered a collapse of 8 for 1 in a One Day Cup loss to Tasmania that all but ended their hopes of defending their crown in that format.
“You go back to lunchtime on day one, at 2 for 72 we thought we’d done a good job to get through that initial period,” WA coach Adam Voges said. “But under the pressure of a South Australian attack, we didn’t have answers. That’s really frustrating from a batting sense. We’re a young batting group, we’re going to have good and bad days. But really disappointing.”
