Western Australia has had one of the most spectacular batting collapses in recent cricket history. Remarkably, it has drawn a striking resemblance to India’s recent batting catastrophe in Cape Town. At the WACA Ground in Perth, the reigning One-Day Cup winners lost eight wickets for just one score against Tasmania after slipping from an apparently secure 52/2 to be all out for only 53.
India or Western Australia?
The collapse is similar to India’s disastrous Test match performance in Cape Town earlier this year, where the visitors suffered an equally dramatic collapse. In that instance, India moved from a promising position of 153/4 to being bowled out for the exact same score against South Africa, losing their last six wickets without adding a single run to the total. Unlike Western Australia, however, India won that particular match, chasing down 80 runs in the fourth innings.
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Horrible batting performance by WA!
Western Australia’s collapse, however, might be considered even more dramatic in its execution. Even their only run came via a wide delivery! The procession included six batters who failed to trouble the scorers, among them several Australian white-ball prospects, including Hilton Cartwright, Ashton Turner, Ashton Agar, and Josh Inglis.
Tasmania’s Beau Webster emerged as the chief architect of the collapse, recording career-best figures of 6/17. Billy Stanlake provided excellent support with 3/17. The only Western Australian batters to show any resistance were D’Arcy Short (22) and Cameron Bancroft (14), but their efforts proved insufficient in preventing their team from recording the second-lowest total in Australian domestic one-day cup history.
The target of 54 proved to be a mere formality for Tasmania, who reached it in just 8.3 overs, losing three wickets in the process. Mitchell Owen’s brisk 29 guided them to a comfortable seven-wicket victory, despite Joel Paris (2/10) and Lance Morris (1/10) picking up consolation wickets for Western Australia.
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