Australia Domestic One-Day Cup 2021-22 News

In a run-fest at The Gabba, Western Australia managed to stay on top of the home side Queensland Bulls, defeating them by 70 runs to win their third match of the Australian domestic One Day Cup. The 70 run victory margin may look very large, but not if it is revealed that the chasing team made 291 as well. Chasing a target of 362, set up by the WA, Queensland didn’t have a great start as they lost their skipper Usman Khawaja at the team score of only 13. From there onwards, wickets fell at regular intervals before Joe Burns ( 73) and Jimmy Peirson (62), two of the most experienced Queenslander got together and stitched a 124 run partnership off just 104 balls. The duo threatened to complete what would have been the second-best chase in Australian domestic ODI. When they were at the crease, the Bulls needed only 125 runs in 75 balls with six wickets in hand. However, Andrew Tye came back with a vicious spell and got both wickets one over apart. This broke the Bulls’ resistance and the entire team could only get up to 291 in 48.5 overs. Tye picked three wickets in total for the WA side. Earlier in the day, after winning the toss and deciding to bat first, Western Australia rode on a magnificent hundred from Cameron Bancroft along with some stupendous hitting at the backend by Cameron Green and skipper Ashton Turner to get to 361-3 in their 50 overs. While Bancroft remained unbeaten on 124 off 105 balls, Green was removed on 70 off 55 balls by James Bazley. Turner also remained unbeaten on 70 off only 41 balls. Courtesy of this win, WA now have three wins in four games and are at the top of the six-team points table.

Western Australia rode on an emphatic batting display from Shaun Marsh to clinch a 6-wicket win against South Australia in a rain-curtailed match in Perth on Monday in the Domestic One-day cup. Chasing a target of 165 runs in 27 overs, the WA openers Josh Philippe and Sam Whiteman scored 30 runs for the first wicket before the latter departed for 7 off 23. Philippe followed his partner soon and was undone by Wes Agar for 26 off 28. Shaun Marsh who had come in at number three then stitched a stand of 32 runs for the third wicket with Cameron Green. Just as the two batters steadied the ship for the side, Western Australia lost a couple of wickets in quick succession to get reduced to 74/4 at the end of 16 overs. But it was D'Arcy Short and Marsh who took the onus on themselves and made sure that there were no further fall of wickets. While Marsh remained unbeaten at a 63-ball 80, Short struck 35* off 27 during the course to see the side home. Earlier, in the day, South Australia had a disappointing start to the proceedings after losing Alex Carey early in the innings before Weatherald and Head stitched a stand of 40 runs for the second wicket to provide the resistance. While Weatherald went on to notch up a half-century, head could only manage to score 28 off 19. The SA side were pushed on the backfoot after getting reduced to 138/6 but an unbeaten stand of 55 runs between McAndrew and Worrall helped the team put 193/6 in 35 overs on the board. For WA, it was Matthew Kelly who was the pick of the bowlers after he returned with figures of 2/37 in 7 overs.

Australia skipper Tim Paine is striving hard to get back to full fitness before the home Ashes series is scheduled to start early December this year. He underwent surgery on his neck and said that will resume wicketkeeping training from coming Tuesday. He is working hard to play for Tasmania in the Sheffield Shield tournament to assess his recovery from the operation and ensure full match readiness for the series. "I had a little bit of a hit on the bowling machine (on Thursday)," he told SEN. "Tuesday next week is pretty much the six-week mark (since surgery), where I can start to look up, which is obviously a key part of wicketkeeping. If I squat down, I need to be able to tilt my head up so I can see the ball coming. Hopefully, I'll get the all-clear on Tuesday and I can start wicketkeeping practice, albeit a pretty low intensity for a week or two.” "But I'm looking to hopefully play in a second XI game for Tasmania in mid-November and a Sheffield Shield game after that so that will give me a decent lead-in of two or three weeks of proper cricket before the first Test." The Ashes series holds a monumental place in Paine’s career as this could well be his swansong from international cricket. He would certainly love to leave the international stage on a high, particularly after losing the last home series to India last summer. Notably, Paine was elevated to the leadership of the Australia Test team in the aftermath of the ball-tampering saga in the Newlands Test between South Africa in 2018. He has led Australia to an Ashes retaining series away from home in 2019 but the series loss to India last summer has somewhat spoilt his legacy and he would be desperate to correct all of that with an Ashes triumph later this year.

Australia spinner Nathan Lyon suffered a mild concussion during New South Wales’ intra-squad match. The right-arm bowler is expected to feature in the Sheffield Shield match next week. "In NSW's 3-day intra-squad trial match that began yesterday, Test spinner Nathan Lyon suffered a mild concussion and as a precaution has withdrawn from the rest of the fixture," Cricket NSW said. "Lyon was injured while fielding late in the day, after bowling 20 well executed overs (1/79), and is expected to play in next week's Sheffield Shield opener," it added. New South Wales will play Victoria at Drummoyne Oval, Sydney from October 27. The two sides will then lock horns with each other in Melbourne from November 5 and will play the Marsh Cup fixture at the same venue on November 12. The Cricket Australia (CA) had announced the next schedule for the Sheffield Shield and Marsh Cup with the borders of New South Wales and Victoria opening finally on Wednesday. Lyon who has played 100 Tests at the highest level has picked up 399 wickets at an economy of under 3 and an average of 32.1.

Australia’s young batsman Will Pucovski's bad luck with head injuries doesn't seem to be ending as he has suffered another instance of concussion after taking a hit in the indoor nets of Victoria, The Sydney Morning Herald reported. He is showing minor signs of concussion, the report added. The latest episode of concussion put his overall well-being in jeopardy while his participation in the Australian Test squad for the upcoming Ashes series has also taken a massive hit. Notably, the latest bout of injury is the 10th instance of head injury for the 23-year old batting prodigy, and it’s unlikely that Cricket Victoria will risk his health and well being by rushing his return. Even Aussie Test skipper Tim Paine is of the opinion that Will should not be rushed to the Test arena given his history with concussions. "I've spoken to him a bit the last few days, he's improving slowly, I don't think it's as bad as some of the others he's had before," Paine was quoted as saying to SEN Hobart. "But obviously, with his history, we have to be very careful with anything around the brain. There's no need to rush him at the moment. He's still 22-23 years of age, so he's got a long time in the game if we get it right," he added. Pucovski was hit on the head while representing Australia A last summer and it delayed his imminent Test debut. He waited and debuted only in the third Test of the series against India at the Sydney Cricket Ground, but the instance of bad luck did not leave him alone. He dislocated his shoulder while attempting to stop a ball from going towards the boundary and missed the remainder of the series.

With lockdown norms not easing up in the states of Queensland, South Australi and Tasmania for visitors from New South Wales and Victoria states, players from these two states, who are hopeful of making it to the Australian Ashes squad, but aren’t part of the Aussie T20 World Cup squad are worried about reaching Brisbane for the first Ashes Test. Talking about such problems, Cricket NSW head of the male team, Michael Klinger said, "I suppose the next challenge for us is getting someone like Nathan up into Queensland where the first Test is going to be.” "We'll obviously work with Cricket Australia on that to find out how we're going to do that to make sure he's up there by late November, early December, whenever the guys come back from the World Cup as well,” Klinger added, saying that the problem is mainly due to the 14-day quarantine (if it is not exempted) and how to plan the quarantine to coincide with the rest of the Australian team members who would be returning from the T20 World Cup. "I suppose the biggest challenge with the guys coming back from the World Cup is we just don't know what date that will be because we just don't know if they're going to make the semi-final or the final, so we'll just have to be quite flexible with that situation and make sure we get Nath back to marry up with that. And potentially, we're hopeful guys like Moises Henriques and Sean Abbott might be in contention for selection as well,” said the former Australia player, who represented the national team in three T20Is. The lockdown issue has forced Cricket Australia to allow the NSW and Victorian teams to play each other in the Sheffield Sheild and Marsh Cup games as the other three states have closed their borders to them. Even after this Klinger is hopeful of getting an exemption from 14-day quarantine or individual players which might be easier, compared to getting it for teams. "I don't think it will be an issue for someone like Nathan. When Cricket Victoria and Cricket NSW are trying to get exemptions to get into other states when you're talking about players and staff, you're talking up to 40 to 50 people, and umpires included in that as well. I think it's a different story when you're trying to get exemptions for one, two, or three people than 40 or 50,” he said. "We certainly don't feel as though that will be an issue getting Nathan there or whoever else is needed. Similar situation with the Victorian guys as well with James Pattinson, Will Pucovski, maybe Marcus Harris, these sort of guys will be in the same boat,” added Klinger. The lockdown ash not only affected the Ashes aspiring players but has also been troublesome for Aussie T20 squad members such as Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc and Adam Zampa. While Zampa has been stuck in Byron Bay and is practising alone due to lockdown norms both in Sydney and Brisbane, where he was planning to go, Cummins and Daniel Sams have been able to practice together, but haven’t got even a single centre wicket practice game under their belt. Starc, on the other hand, has been travelling with the Australian women’s team to be with his wife Alyssa Healy and has been practising using their facilities.