Third place finishes at country week for Albany and Districts Cricket Association’s second and third teams

Third place finishes for Albany and Districts’ second and third teams were decent results, but both had promised more in the CSBP senior country week competition which finished in Perth on Friday. Both Albany and Districts 2s and 3s performed well in the group stages but fell short when it came to the semifinals. ADCA 2 clinched third spot in B-section after a close-run play-off brought victory by one wicket over Eastern Districts in their Twenty20 clash on Friday. Cameron Walsh’s 39 was the best of the day, but it was last men Ryan Kinnear (13 not out) and Jed Schwarzbach (6no) who calmed the nerves and got their side to 9-149 in reply to Eastern Districts’ 6-148. In the semifinal the previous day, ADCA 2 were well beaten by Esperance 1, all out for 179 in pursuit of 206 to win. Esperance had opted to bat and were bolstered by an unbeaten century from Callum McFarlane – an unmovable object despite three-wicket hauls from Matthew Thompson and Dylan Belward. Caleb Haua’s unbeaten run-a-ball 53 was the ADCA’s best in reply, but it came too late as he was the second-last man to go to the crease. With the demise of Matthew Thompson for 15, Haua ran out of partners and ADCA 2’s final hopes came to an end. Belward finished the week with nine wickets at an impressive average of 10.89. ADCA 3’s third place was secured in C-section after a comfortable triumph over Avon 1. Chasing 81 to win in their 20 overs, ADCA 3 shuffled their pack and had decent contributions from Ryan Tindale (20) and Angus McSweeney (24) to reach 6-84 with three overs to spare. Three ducks from Avon’s battle-weary top four and a three-wicket haul from Matt Hartfield at a cost of only 10 runs helped the Whalers cause. Their semifinal the previous day was against Busselton-Margaret River who posted a mammoth 7-281. The ADCA 3 response was led by Aran Tilbury’s unbeaten 40 but his best support came in tandem with Tarik Hartfield (25), their side bowled out for 145 in reply. ADCA 2 had topped the B-section pool A with wins against West Pilbara, South Midlands and Newman. The Wednesday clash against Newman was their best outing as they posted an uncatchable 309, thanks to decent efforts — in batting order — from Lochlan Otway (52), Oli Clark (35), Ryan Kinnear (56), Belward (35), Angus Thompson (45no) and Ryan Davies (32). Captain Jack Hastie took 3-19 to knock the stuffing out of the Newman response which was done and dusted at 141. ADCA 3 in C-section also topped their pool with wins over Port Hedland, Warren Blackwood and Northam. Port Hedland were dispatched by five wickets in their opener and Warren Blackwood by eight wickets in round two. Wednesday’s final pool-B contest was another comfortable affair, ADCA 3 reaching 5-108 in response to Northam’s 9-106. Peter Ross was unbeaten on 39 while Lewis Culver and Ian Waugh had taken three wickets apiece to restrict the Northam batting effort. An injury to Bryce Durack prevented him from playing the final three matches but scored two half centuries to have 118 runs and lead the batting for his side while Culver finished with nine scalps across the week.