Port Hedland win Desert Rose Cup, defeating Newman and West Pilbara

Port Hedland are the Desert Rose Cup champions and the best women’s side in the Pilbara after going undefeated in the tournament.

The 20-over intra-regional women’s cricket competition hosted by Cricket North West between the West Pilbara, Port Hedland and Newman Cricket Associations took place at Kevin Scott Oval on November 12.

It saw the sides compete against each other across three games at the South Hedland Oval.

Port Hedland were crowned champions after defeating both Newman and Karratha’s West Pilbara Cricket Association team, with Hedland’s Carmel Ford named player of the tournament.

Hedland took on Newman in the opening game of the tournament with the host side batting first.

The hosts opened their batting account with a strong performance with Ford (32) and Vanessa Wainright (26) guiding their side to an impressive 2-123.

Newman fought until the end, pushing Port Hedland’s bowlers the entire way but fell just 12 runs short of the required total on 3-111.

In the second game of the tournament, WPCA took on Newman with Karratha’s Jessica Jones (54 not out) blasting the batting side to 3-141 from their 20 overs.

Jones was supported by Amanda Morley who made a fighting 36.

In reply, Newman struggled against the strong bowling of the WPCA, with regular wickets falling and the run rate stalling.

In the end Newman finished on 7-80 with WPCA winning by 61 runs.

The final game of the competition was the highly anticipated clash between the WPCA and Port Hedland.

The action-packed game lived up to expectations with both teams battling for control and momentum swinging regularly.

Port Hedland batted first with Ford continuing her good form to carry her bat and finish on 34 runs despite regular wickets falling around her to guide her side to a respectable 5-120.

Port struck early in WPCA’s innings, removing the top three for just 28 runs.

Batting powerhouse Jessica Creighton made a fighting 35 but it was not enough, with WPCA finishing on 5-113 just seven runs short of Port Hedland.

Ford was the leading run scorer for the tournament with 66 at a strike rate of 77.6.