Sheffield Shield (Photo Source: Twitter)

Western Australia (WA) thumped Victoria by a colossal nine-wicket margin at the Western Australia Cricket Association Ground (WACA) in Perth to clinch their second consecutive Sheffield Shield title. In doing so, they have become the first team to lift the Shield in successive summers since Victoria (2014-17).

Furthermore, with the win, WA clinched an unprecedented treble with wins in all three domestic men’s competitions – the Shield, Marsh One-Day Cup and Big Bash League (with Perth Scorchers).

Speaking about the match, WA skipper Sam Whiteman won the toss and elected to field first. Victoria’s opener Ashley Chandrasinghe top-scored for the side in the first innings with 46 whereas the rest of the unit failed to carve out any vital knocks. Meanwhile, the rival bowling unit operated in tandem and dented the batting line-up. 

Lance Morris returned a three-wicket haul whereas Aaron Hardie, Matthew Kelly, and Joel Paris got two wickets each to wrap up the innings. Victoria could only manage to get 195 runs whereas WA responded with 315 runs courtesy of a majestic ton by Ashton Turner (128 runs).

WA extend domination to crush Victoria in summit clash

Notably, Will Sutherland performed exceedingly well with the ball for Victoria as the 23-year-old all-rounder scalped a five-for (5/75 in 28 overs) in the second innings. WA continued to stamp their authority in Victoria’s second innings.

Skipper Peter Handscomb scored a gritty half-century (52 off 67 balls) while Sutherland put up a fight as he got 83 runs to his name. However, it seemed to be the only highlights in their innings as the side was eventually dismissed for 210 runs thereby setting up a paltry target of 91 runs for WA to scale.

Despite the early dismissal of the WA skipper in the third over of the chase, Cameron Bancroft’s and Teague Wyllie’s unbeaten knocks of 39 and 43 runs steered the side to help them seal their record 17th Shield title.