West Pilbara Cricket Association avoid country week relegation with spirited effort in B-grade league

A fighting effort from the West Pilbara Cricket Association saw the team avoid relegation with a classy performance against Warren-Blackwood in B-grade for seniors’ country week. The WPCA team, led by Jordan Perkusich, fought their hearts out against strong competitors including Albany, Bunbury and Peel. A close loss to Peel opened the tournament for WPCA before they secured their first win with a crushing 196-run demolition of Warren Blackwood. Albany proved too strong in the round three clash while a heartbreaking 13-run loss in the semifinals against South Midlands saw WPCA face off against Warren-Blackwood in the relegation final. The Pilbara side performed better than their results showed, scoring 1048 runs at 209.6 per innings across the five games and taking 57 wickets. Batting star Lachlan Seabrook showed his class throughout the tournament, scoring 218 runs at an average of 43.60. Perkusich was the second highest scorer with 189 at 37.8. Jaxon Gordon and Joshua Harper took 15 wickets each over the tournament at an average of 11.93 and 15.67 respectively. The final saw WPCA bat first with half centuries from Perkusich (66 from 90 balls), Seabrook (52 from 59) and Cameron Gordon (52 from 70) to power the side to a dominant 256. Warren-Blackwood’s run chase never got going with a clinical bowling performance from the Pilbara side dismantling their opponents for 95 runs. Lachlan Smith snared four wickets for 31 runs while Harper, Jaxon Gordon and Joshua Vernon snared two wickets each. In D-grade, the West Pilbara side demolished Bunbury to finish third with a 57-run victory. Batting first the WPCA made their way to 6/170 with Jayden Lagana making an unbeaten 58 and was supported by a quickfire 34 from Jason Mallon. Bunbury’s run chase got off to a shaky start when the crucial scalp of Bunbury opener Jackson Barrett (7 runs) sparked a collapse with the next three wickets falling for just 18 runs to leave the chasing side struggling at 4-37. WPCA continued to build pressure despite a late fight-back to take the 57 run victory with Bunbury finishing 7/113. Jade Johnson and Dayanand Gawade were the standout bowlers with two wickets each.