An hour of poor batting proved decisive last Sunday as Western Zone went down to Southern/ACT and lost the chance to defend their NSW Country Championship crown against Newcastle next week.
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The two sides met in a winner-takes-all clash on the final day of the Southern Pool fixtures at Wagga, but it was Southern/ACT who claimed a five-wicket win.
Batting first, Western got off to a good start and were 1-100 at one stage, but a middle order slump saw them fall to 5-108 and from there they never recovered.
171 was never going to be enough against their opposition, who had been boosted this season by the inclusion of ACT players.
They passed the total five wickets down with more than five overs to spare.
“Our batting let us down,” coach Matt Crawley said.
“On reflection in the sheds, we said another 50 or 60 would have been enough.
“There was some poor shot selection, we needed to play straight and we just went off script a bit, but they did have some really good spinners.
“On reflection that's where we lost our way.”
Despite the disappointment of not winning through to next week's state country final, Crawley was still pleased with what he saw from his side across the three days.
The match against Southern/ACT followed on from two big wins over Riverina and Illawarra while a number of players contributed across the whole carnival.
Marty Jeffrey claimed four wickets on debut on day one, while Mitch Bower, Tim Berry and Jordan Moran all starred on day two.
Sunday's match was a much more difficult one, but Parkes’ Anthony Heraghty had a strong game, taking 2-25 from 10 with the ball and his 31 with the bat was equal with captain Nick Berry for the top score.
Crawley said he was proud of his side, especially considering the amount of players, headlined by Australian Country representative Tim Cox, who were missing from the team after starring last season.
“We had seven or eight changes from last season so we're in a bit of transition,” he said.
“We lost some very good players and we've given quite a few players an opportunity and unearthed a couple of gems.”
Teenagers Jeffrey and Ryan Peacock are two of those gems while Aaron Seymour also impressed with the new ball in his first outing with Western.
“We competed well across the three days and for the past five years we've been up there and now we've got an elevated status in country cricket,” Crawley added.
“So now it's up to us to retain it and make sure we pick the right blokes.”
Southern/ACT, who were led to victory by a 99-run opening stand between Dean Solway (80) and Kevin Jacob (42), now travel to Newcastle next weekend for the chance to be crowned champions of country NSW.
