Queensland clinched a spectacular one-wicket win over New South Wales (NSW) in the eighth match of the Marsh Cup 2023, while Western Australia (WA) secured a commanding six-wicket victory over Victoria in the ninth game on Monday.
In the eighth game, NSW took the crease first, but their performance was below par as they posted a total of 217/10 in 44.1 overs at the North Sydney Oval in Sydney. Captain Moises Henriques was the star with the willow, scoring 82 runs off 84 balls, including seven fours and four sixes.
In response, Sam Heazlett shined with the bat for Queensland, scoring 58 runs off 46 balls. However, their innings took a turn for the worse as they kept losing wickets at regular intervals. At one stage, they were staring down the barrel at 146/9 in 26.5 overs.
Eventually, Gurinder Sandhu (46* off 45) and Kane Richardson (36* off 34) put on a show for the last wicket, guiding Queensland to victory with 12.4 overs to spare. Jack Edwards was the wrecker-in-chief for NSW, picking up four big wickets, but in vain.
In the ninth game, Victoria batted first and got bundled out for just 107 runs in 21.1 overs. At one stage, they lost eight wickets for just 62 runs. However, Fergus O’Neill and Todd Murphy scored 20-plus apiece to take their side past 100.
Jason Behrendorff and Andrew Tye were the standout bowlers for Western Australia, scalping three wickets each. Jhye Richardson and Lance Morris bagged two wickets apiece.
In the chase, Western Australia chased down the total in 23.4 overs. D’Arcy Short scored 39 runs off 39 balls with five fours and two sixes. Sam Whiteman, batting at No. 4, scored 38* runs off 51 balls to seal the deal for WA.
On that note, let’s take a look at the top run-scorers and wicket-takers of Marsh Cup 2023.
Marsh Cup 2023 Most Runs List
Western Australia’s No. 4 batter Sam Whiteman jumped to the second position on the batting charts, scoring 189 runs from three innings with Beau Webster, the Tasmania batter, leading the charts with 190 runs.
NSW batter Daniel Hughes is the third-ranked batter with 186 runs from three innings at an average of 62. Southern Australia batter Daniel Drew occupies the fourth slot, amassing 172 runs.
Tasmania’s middle-order batter Jordan Silk took the fifth position, accumulating 147 runs from three innings at an average of 49.
Marsh Cup 2023 Most Wickets List
NSW medium pacer Jack Edwards is the leading wicket-taker with eight scalps from three innings. Western Australia pacer Lance Morris secured the second rank, scalping six wickets from two innings.
Victoria pacer Will Sutherland climbed to the third spot, racking up six wickets. Western Australia pacer Andrew Tye moved up to the fourth rank, bagging six wickets. NSW left-arm pacer Hayden Kerr scalped five wickets to take the fifth position.
