WNCL: NSW reigns supreme in Last Wicket Thriller at Cricket Central

By Helen Maynard-Casely

So we return to Cricket Central NSW to watch NSW Breakers take on Queensland Fire for the second match of Round 5 of the WNCL. Whispy cirrus clouds across the blue sky, a stark contrast to Tuesday’s conditions. The temperature would rise to 37 degrees, which gave rise to extra drink break fees.

Queensland skipper Redmayne again won the toss, but this time decided to use a bat. Queensland had made two changes to their team from Tuesday, with Ruby Strange and Nicola Hancock out of the squad to make way for Lily Bassingthwaighte and Charli Knott, the latter just back from India.

However, Queensland’s batting plans were soon in tatters, with Lauren Cheatle forcing Georgia Redmayne to pick a delivery to the waiting hands of Anika Learoyd in the slip for a second ball duck, in stark contrast to her century the match before. Cheatle followed this up in her next over by getting Chali Knott to edge a ball, which found Sarah Coyte’s hands at gully. Queensland left 2/6 in just the third over.

Jess Jonassen joined Mikayla Wrigley at the crease and had to dig in to battle through the powerplay, with Cheatle continuing to bowl particularly well. The tension increased as Wrigley managed to get a classic cover drive to the boundary to score her first runs after facing her 20^e ball. The batters underwent a recovery of sorts until the 21st^st when Cheatle made big ground to catch Jonassens’ shot off Frankie Nicklin’s bowling. Nicklin worked well with Sam Bates in the middle overs to really hold back the run rate. A turn of the screw in the 33^rd was over when Nicklin’s bowling cost two wickets. First Wrigley, who had shown some determination but had no desire to have a great chance of raising her 50, and had to walk back to the chairs with 46 runs. A few balls later Lucy Bourke was out LBW. From here the NSW bowlers did not allow the remaining batters to get much of an innings, the run rate dropped and slower balls in particular plagued the batters.

NSW Breakers captain Lauren Cheatle delivers a ball, ending her 10 overs after taking 4 wickets and earning Player of the Match. Image credits Andy Casely

Queensland struggled to 188 runs before losing the last wicket in the 47^e about. Tight bowling from all over NSW meant there were good performances all around, Coyte conceding a whopping 20 runs for her 7.4 overs, and Cheatle taking 4 wickets in total, conceding just 32 runs for her 10 over campaign.

As the crickets screamed in the sunshine, NSW openers Tahlia Wilson and Alyssa Healy walked to the crease, looking relaxed and hoping not to have to strain themselves too much in the heat to reach the 189-run target. But plans only started to go wrong in the 5th over when Healy chipped the ball to the waiting Bonnie Berry with good leg. This set the tone for an innings in which, like Queensland, most got a few runs on the board but no one managed a big score. Ellyse Perry went for 23, Katie Mack went for 24 and when Annika Learoyd ran out of 25 the chase started to look on shaky ground with 6 wickets behind for 134 runs. Maitlan Brown and Sarah Coyte managed to settle NSW somewhat by putting together a 41-run 7th wicket partnership, including an impressive 6 for Coyte against the wind. The wind was likely to have helped loopy spinners Jonassen, Knott and Grace Parsons as Queensland continued to spin to slow the accumulation of the NSW run.

NSW batsman Sarah Coyte watches as Queensland celebrates her wicket, with replacement fielder Ruby Strange taking the catch. Image credits Andy Casely

Brown and Coyte looked like they would get NSW over the line, but they both got out with 24 runs still needed. Brown deflected a ball off Berry’s bowling that found the keeper’s gloves, while Coyte was next caught by substitute Ruby Strange at gully. A mix-up between Cheatle and Nicklin resulted in Nicklin being run out a few balls later, leaving the Breakers needing 14 runs for their final wicket and spectators chewing their fingernails. Sam Bates worked with captain Cheatle to steady their nerves against some excellent death bowling to creep to the total, which was reached when Bates squeezed a shot through behind him to jog on for the final run. Cheatle was named player of the match and moves to the top of the wicket-taking table for the competition so far with 18 wickets on the season.

A successful round then for NSW as they extended their lead at the top of the standings to 9 points over second place Queensland with two games in hand. Queensland have a bye into the next round and will be nervously watching to see how South Australia and Western Australia fare as they can still overtake them for the final spot. NSW look quite comfortable at the top, with one more win in their last four matches needed to secure a finals place.

Helen (Crystallized cricket) is a writer based in the land of Dharug and Gundagarra, and here he writes about a game played in the land of Dharug. She acknowledges the traditional owners of the lands from which she writes.