WA posts crushing victory

A DEFIANT knock from Glenn Maxwell wasn’t nearly enough for Victoria to avoid an embarrassing nine-wicket Sheffield Shield defeat to Western Australia at the WACA Ground.

The Bushrangers were skittled for 186 in their second innings, with Maxwell (57) their only batsman to put up any real resistance.

It left WA needing just nine runs off 32 overs to secure victory, and they achieved it with ease despite the loss of Sam Whiteman for three.

The result leaves Victoria winless after two rounds, following on from their run-fest draw with South Australia earlier this month.

The Bushrangers were in all sorts of trouble early yesterday after slumping to 5-78; still needing a further 100 runs just to make WA bat again.

Maxwell’s fighting knock that featured seven fours and a six helped stem the tide, with the blaster combining with Sam Harper (31) for an important 70-run stand.

But their departures sparked the end of Victoria’s resistance. Test opener Marcus Harris (8) fell late on Sunday to start the early rot, while Will Pucovski (2), Peter Handscomb (19), Matt Short (0), and Nic Maddinson (37) were all dismissed during a disastrous morning session yesterday.

WA allrounder Marcus Stoinis (3-33) trapped both Handscomb and Short lbw.

Test aspirant Jhye Richardson (3-40) and David Moody (3-57) bowled with menace.

Stand-in WA skipper Shaun Marsh was the hero for WA over the weekend, compiling a classy 214 off 436 balls to lift the Warriors to 9(dec)-519 in their first innings.