One to read while the Test, Sheffield Shield and WBBL are all on at the same time.

Marsh Cup Final

WA 6/210 (48) defeated QLD 205 (49.3) by 4 wickets @ Allan Border Field

POTM: Shaun Marsh (WA) 101* off 132

A REAL MARSH-STER CLASS

In front of about 20 people at Captain Grumpy Field, Usman Khawja responded to Shane Warne’s smack about not showing enough energy with his body language, and decided to rocket the coin toss into Albion Park, but it would be Ashton Turner who came up heads, and made the inspired choice to send the Banana Benders in to bat.

Within 3 overs, it was paying dividends.

Maxy Bryant was given out LBW for 2, to a Jhye Richardson ball that may have been going down legside, and Sam Heazlett was clean bowled by Nathan Coulter-Nile, leaving the Bulls at 2/8 after 3 overs.

Khawaja and Matt Renshaw tried getting something going, moving the score to 44, until Khawaja edged NCN straight to Shaun Marsh, Renshaw did exactly the same thing, Sam Heazlett was skittled by Richardson, and within 14 overs, the Bulls were in a hole the size of North Queensland, at 5/56.

Jimmy Peirson and Bryce ‘Wall’ Street set about consuming more balls than a few Mardi Gras participants just to get the score to 100, and Wall Street ended up powering along to a mighty 29 off 72, but he crashed when Ashton Agar stuck his right mit out, and submitted a contender for the Fatty Vautin “More Arse Than Class” Award, and the Queenslanders were 6/102, and hard pressed to even reach 200.

When Michael Neser fell to make it 7/127, Peirson started taking off, and with Mark Steketee rotating the strike, and later Matty Kuhnemann, the innings passed 200, and ended when Peirson was claimed at long leg by Agar for 79.

205 was a worthwhile recovery score, and it could so easily have been more, when I note the fact that Peirson faced only 5 balls between the 43rd and 48th overs.

Typically you get the keeper to farm the strike when he’s batting with the tail….. Obviously in Queensland the bowlers do it instead.

Defending a reasonably small total, the Queensland pace attack of Neser and Steketee struck several early blows- Cam Bancroft picked to pick out Neser at long leg, D’Arcy S’h’o’r’t hit an utterly useless shot straight to Street at mid-off, and Turner hadn’t even got going when he copped the same crap LBW call that Bryant copped.

I swear, Ashton seems to cop those more than most batsman.

3/23, and with Marsh up one end having barely faced a ball, Marcus Stoinis came to the crease and took a good 30 balls to get going, but once Marsh was set, he completely took over the momentum of the match, and once Stoinis got going with a couple of boundaries, things were looking very good for WA.

The two WAnkers put on 97 for the 4th wicket, as Marsh passed his half-century, the first time he’s pulled that off in a Domestic One Day final, which isn’t that surprising, given he was extremely confident playing in a competition named after him.

With the game slipping away Max Merritt style, Ussie rolled the dice and gave the ball to Renshaw, in a move similar to when Turner gave the ball to D’Arcy Short in the 1st Innings.

Despite getting tonked by Stoinis, it paid off when the Oil Rig went one too many slogs, and picked out Heazlett on the rope for 37, breaking up the crucial partnership.

Hilton Cartwright managed to play an edge straight to Renshaw at 1st slip, a fielding change by Khawaja that almost managed to go unnoticed, and then Green tried cracking one past point, only to somehow get claimed by the latest screamer of a catch – Max Bryant plucked out 2 hands, when it turned out he only needed one.

6/151, still 55 short of the target with only 4 wickets left, as Agar came to the chase – Even watching from the comfort of my messy hovel, I was sweating like a drink driver staring at a breathalyzer.

Fortunately, Ashton Agar appears to be handy wielding the willow, and he gave Marsh more than enough support to keep the chase ticking over, given the run rate was never really a problem.

One of the forgotten bowling performances was that Billy Stanlake finished with a very economical 30 off his 10 overs, and produced several dozen deliveries that could easily have been wicket balls.

On any other day defending a bigger total, 0/30 would be rightly remembered as a very tidy bowling performance – Tuesday just wasn’t one of those days for Big Bill, given the Queenslanders needed wickets, not tight overs.

With victory in sight, Marsh brought up his ton off 127 balls, and Agar finished off the match by clubbing a 6 back down the ground into the dunnies, and to jubilant scenes, my beloved WAnkers had claimed their 14th Domestic One Day title, extending the record they hold, and it was the 4th consecutive time they’ve beaten Queensland in a One Day Final (96/97, 99/00, 03/04).

This joke has been used a good 3,875 times, but it was only fitting that a Marsh would drag his team to win the Marsh Cup.

Tee hee hee, I’m so original.

Alex Blackwell Retires After an 18 year career

For all I know, it was her identical twin sister Kate that retired.

Alas, at the age of 36, the most experienced woman in the history of Australian cricket has confirmed she’ll finally pull up stumps after the Thunder’s season (Most likely) ends on the weekend, having retired from the international game several years ago.

12 Tests, 144 ODIs and 95 T20Is, after debuting as a 19-year-old back in early 2003, and Blackwell may be on track to qualify for the pension in 24 short years, but she can still do some damage with the willow, evidenced by this past Wednesday against the Stars in Canberra, in which she hit 65 off 47, and claimed Player of the Match Honours as the Thunder went on to take the points.

Bravo to her, I could be wrong, but Alex may very well be the last remaining player in Australian women’s cricket to play alongside a deadset legend of the game in Belinda Clark, who retired all the way back in 2005 after Australia won the World Cup.

And throw in Mel Jones as well, who retired in April 2005, and has been in a media role for a good couple of years.

Michael Klinger replacing Andrew McDonald as the coach of the Melbourne Renegades

It’s absolutely perfect from the Renegades – Now that they’ve got that elusive Big Bash title, they’re going to set out to become as successful as the Scorchers have been this decade… by signing anyone and anything relating to Perth.

The coach is set, they’ve got Shaun Marsh, and Brad Hogg’s involvement with the boys in Red has been struck from the record.

As for WBBL highlights… I figure it’s going to be easier to get a big end of season thing done before the finals start next weekend… that and I’m pressed for time