Wests outlast NB Diggers
Late rain no issue as Wests pick up victory
While wet conditions put a hold on a number of first round Harding-Madsen Shield matches, a usual suspect continued to excel.
Western Suburbs have won the last two instalments of the inter-district competition and got their 2018 campaign off on the right note with a victory over Northern Brothers Diggers.
The defending champions posted a total of 7-289 after being sent in to bat, and were able to restrict their opponents to 7125 before rain set in.
Wests bowler Shaun McCarthy said it was a fantastic effort from the batsmen to put scoreboard pressure on the chasing Diggers team.
“Things went pretty well at the start, and Matt Hallas and Sean Neale put on a heavy partnership,” he said.
“They put on 160 with Matt getting 84 and Sam 66. We were scoring positively at about five runs an over with some wickets in the shed.
“The pitch itself was quite good. The covers were on Thursday night before the rain hit. The outfield was a bit wet early but we were able to get a lot of cricket in.”
McCarthy said the bowlers were able to back up the job as Diggers tried to respond to the mammoth total.
“It was an interesting sort of run chase. It was overcast and everyone thought it was going to rain,” he said.
“They tried to chase early runs to try and get ahead on the Duckworth Lewis system but consistently lost quick wickets.
“By the time the rain did fall we were ahead enough to get the win and the bonus point.”
Southern Districts return to the top grade suffered a blow with a four-wicket loss to Central Districts.
Highfields went down on the road to Brothers, Met Easts had to settle for a draw with Laidley after the rain set in, and University didn’t get the opwith