Western Australia v Tasmania, FR Cup, Perth

Langer and Marsh direct Warriors to bonus point

Cricinfo staff

October 21, 2007

Western Australia 2 for 185 (Langer 75*, Marsh 66) beat Tasmania 8 for 181 (Dighton 38, Voges 3-33) by 8 wickets
Scorecard

Michael Dighton top scored for Tasmania with 38, but they were outclassed by Western Australia © Getty Images

Justin Langer and Shaun Marsh sparkled with half-centuries as Western Australia cruised to an eight-wicket victory over Tasmania in Perth. The Warriors controlled the match from the middle of the first innings and were rewarded with a bonus point as Langer and Marsh finished in a flurry.

Langer started cautiously and waited until well after Luke Ronchi departed for an enterprising 27 before he lifted his rate. Once settled, he began to sprint and pounded four sixes in his 75 from 99 balls. Marsh also looked comfortable after a tough opening - he brought up his fifty with a six over long-off - and hit seven fours before slipping to Brendan Drew on 66.

The Tigers needed a tail-end recovery from Xavier Doherty (29) and Brendan Drew (33) , who put on an unbeaten 61, to reach 8 for 181 after a horrible mid-innings collapse. Western Australia sent Tasmania in and it proved to be the right decision, even though they had to wait for their rewards.

Tasmania had cruised to 1 for 75 when Michael Dighton was run-out taking on Luke Ronchi, but his dismissal for 38 started a dramatic slide to 8 for 120. The captain Adam Voges, bowling left-arm orthodox spin, was the most successful with 3 for 33, which included the fine diving caught and bowled of Mark Divin the ball after George Bailey (21) was run-out in a similar way to Dighton. Aaron Heal was also impressive with 2 for 18 off ten overs as the spinners dominated.

Dan Marsh, who fell to Heal for 34, was upset his batsmen failed to adapt to the conditions. "The pitch was much slower than we normally expect here and the ball was sticking in the wicket a bit, making it harder to score," he said. "A few of us got starts but no-one got a big score, so that was a bit disappointing."

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