Western Australia lost an incredible eight wickets for just one run as the national one-day champions suffered one of the worst batting collapses in the history of professional cricket.
In a One-Day Cup game against Tasmania at the Waca Ground in Perth on Friday, a Warriors side containing Australian internationals such as Cameron Bancroft, Ashton Agar and Josh Inglis were bowled out for 53 in 20.1 overs with Beau Webster taking 6-17 in six overs for the visitors.
To add to the ignominy, the one run added during the collapse was a wide.
It was the second lowest score in the competition’s history, only narrowly bettering the 51 posted by South Australia against Tasmania in Hobart in 2003.
Tasmania chased down the paltry victory target in just 8.3 overs to secure a seven-wicket victory and a vital bonus point.
Western Australia’s bid for a fourth consecutive title now hangs by a thread and they need to beat Victoria, South Australia and Queensland in their remaining three games – and rely on other results to fall their way – in order to secure a top-two spot and a berth in the final in March.
The Warriors were crawling at 2-52 in the 16th over of Friday’s match before suffering one of the worst batting collapses witnessed in professional cricket.
In the space of 28 legal deliveries, WA lost eight wickets as Webster and Billy Stanlake (3-12) ran rampant.
It meant WA went from 2-52 to all out for 53, with not a single run scored by the players batting at No 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 and 11.
“Probably a bit of shock as much as anything,” WA coach Adam Voges said after the loss. “The boys are very disappointed in the sheds at the moment. A lot of people came to watch today, and we let them down.
“At 1-45, even though it was doing a fair bit, we thought we’d done the hard work. Unfortunately, that proved not to be the case.
“Clearly we’ve made mistakes, and whether that’s from an execution point of view or shot selection point of view, we’ll review that.”
The out-of-form Cameron Bancroft (14 off 29 balls) was the first to fall in the collapse, trapped lbw by Webster.
Ash Turner also fell lbw to Webster three balls later, and Josh Inglis was bowled by a Stanlake pearler one ball after that.
Cooper Connolly, Hilton Cartwright, Ashton Agar, Jhye Richardson and Joel Paris all posted ducks as WA’s innings was brought to a crashing end.
Warriors opener D’Arcy Short top scored with 22 in a sorry looking scoreboard for the three-time defending champions.
WA fell short of their previous lowest score, the 59 they posted against Victoria at the MCG in 1969.
Webster was the hero for Tasmania, claiming the early scalp of Short before kick-starting the collapse in a career-best display.
Stanlake was also hugely effective, with his removal of Inglis among the highlights of the innings.
The result marked Tasmania’s first win of the season, after a loss and a no-result from their first two games.
