Home

Lions, Wallabies triumph in cricket semi-finals

West Pilbara Cricket AssociationPilbara News
Lions’ batsman Muhammad Khan in action.
Camera IconLions’ batsman Muhammad Khan in action. Credit: Pilbara News, Alicia Perera

The West Pilbara Cricket Association’s Twenty20 competition reached the semi-finals at the weekend.

The first semifinal match was played between the Karratha Kats and Baynton Lions at Millars Well Oval last Friday.

Lions won the toss and elected to bat first.

Opener Lokendra Ranawat (23 runs) and Sanjay Yadav gave the Lions a steady start, but Patrick Richard stuck twice in the same over and put Lions on the back foot.

Skipper Vipan Rajput (23 runs) and Aziz Saghar (29 runs) helped the Lions to reach 118 in their respective 20 overs.

Richard was the pick of the Kats’ bowlers with 2/14 in three overs.

In response, the Kats did not start too well.

Lions speedster Shamsher Singh stuck twice in his first over and finished with three wickets in his four overs.

The Kats were four down in the first six overs.

Skipper Geoff Spencer (18 runs) and Tom Spoljaric (31 runs) provided some resistance, but Lions spinner Shezad Gondal spun the ball hard and took three quick wickets for 17 runs in his four overs to restrict the Kats to 89 runs in their 20 overs.

The Lions won the game by 29 runs.

The second WPCA semifinal was played between the Wickham Wallabies and Rec Club in Wickham on Friday, where the Wallabies secured a home grand final with a 50-run win.

Wickham won the toss and elected to bat, but got off to a bad start with openers Daniel Carse (2 runs) and Lochie Smith (15 runs) both removed by Richard Anderson (2/22).

The team steadied with a 42-run partnership between Brayden Reynolds (39 runs) and Shane Edwards (36 runs) before Brendan Kuiper was able to strike to take 4/29 off his four overs.

The Wallabies were able to get their score to 7/142, thanks to some late hitting from Steve Yalden (24 (not out) off 15 balls).

In the Rec Club’s innings, the Wallabies struck early, with Lochie Smith (1/15) and Craig Nunn able to strike to leave Rec Club at 2/27.

Brendan Kuiper (22 runs) and Muhammad Uzair (12 runs) pushed Rec Club’s score along before Carse (2/25) removed them both within two overs.

When Shane Edwards (4/6) took a hat-trick, it all but killed the momentum Rec Club had.

Junaid Khan (22 runs) tried to keep Rec Club in the game but when Michael Bunting (1/11) removed him, it all but ended the match, with Rec Club out for 92.

The grand final, between the Wickham Wallabies and Baynton Lions, is this Friday in Wickham.

Get the latest news from thewest.com.au in your inbox.

Sign up for our emails