Western Australia young guns embracing One-Day Cup challenge after four-wicket defeat to Tasmania

Western Australia’s next generation are embracing a baptism of fire after a hefty one-day defeat to Tasmania left the side with three wins from their past 11 List A fixtures on top of registering only one victory in nine Sheffield Shield outings.

WA’s first innings was interrupted by rain multiple times at Bellerive Oval after deciding to bat first, and despite making it to triple figures for the loss of two wickets, they could not up the ante when their overs were reduced to 44.

Their meagre total of 248 was chased down with more than five overs to spare.

However, with six of the XI that went down to Tasmania 25 or younger, up-and-coming batsman Teague Wyllie said the team would be better for the learnings.

Wyllie struck a confidence-boosting half century on List A debut for WA in his first appearance since February, when he played the last of his 22 First Class matches.

Rising quick Mahli Beardman was the only WA bowler to claim multiple wickets with the 20-year-old’s record now standing at 12 wickets from five matches at 17.75.

Wyllie said the team were feeling a “changing of the guard” to start the season.

“I’ve played with quite a lot of the guys now with a bit younger of a demographic, and we all get on really well,” he said post-match.

“We’re a young group, a lot of us are inexperienced, there’s a bit of changing of the guard over the last few years and we’ll just take the learnings out of every experience and get better.

“I think as soon as you stop growing as a player, that’s probably when you retire, so hopefully I keep looking to get better and keep nailing down and try and keep my spot in both setups.”

Sam Fanning impressed at the top of the order with his fourth one-day half century before being dismissed for 66 by spinner Nikhil Chaudhary, but experienced trio Cameron Bancroft, Sam Whiteman and Hilton Cartwright all failed to fire through the middle order.

Wyllie’s commitment to improving his white-ball game in recent seasons after forging a reputation as a solid red-ball opener was clear to see as he navigated the lower order.

He maintained a strike rate above a run a ball as he struck four boundaries and a six before being caught behind off the bowling of Brad Hope, who claimed 3-40, attempting to deposit the medium pacer over deep mid-wicket.

“It’s nice to be able to contribute to the first-innings total, but at the end of the day, we play to win and it’s a disappointing day to not get the win,” Wyllie said.

“But it’s nice to get a little bit of reward after hard work.

“It is hard with rain breaks to keep the momentum going, we saw it in the ODI on Sunday, sometimes you don’t know how long you are going to get to bat but that’s no excuse for us.

“Obviously we just left a few runs out there and to Tasmania’s credit they batted really well.”

Beardman gave the visitors a perfect start with the ball, claiming the first two wickets before impressive third-game Albert Esterhuysen removed the dangerous Caleb Jewell two runs short of a half century to leave Tasmania wobbling at 3-85.

But while Ashton Agar was able to keep the runs down, too many of WA’s inexperienced attack lost their radar with three going for more than seven an over.

Run chase specialist Jordan Silk cracked 81 to complement 42 from Ben McDermott.

An unbeaten 46 from former Test keeper Matthew Wade ensured WA never got another foothold in the game as he guided the Tigers to a comfortable four-wicket win.

Keaton Critchell took 1-38 from six overs while Bryce Jackson’s expensive start to the season continued, the quick claiming figures of 1-49 put going for 7.17 runs per over.