Marcus Wilson at Adelaide Oval
An Adam Voges century has helped Western Australia record a comfortable five-wicket win over South Australia in the Ford Ranger Cup clash at Adelaide Oval.
Chasing the Redbacks 6-270, the Warriors scored 5-272 with 16 balls to spare.
Man-of-the-match Voges was unbeaten on 104 from 119 balls while David Bandy hit the winning runs and finished with 20 off 12 deliveries to be unbeaten at the end.
Gary Putland had the best bowling figures with 2-58 off 10 overs while Shaun Tait took two wickets in an eventful first over before taking some punishment in his second and third spells to finish with 2-70.
Voges, best known for his swashbuckling one-day innings, was the steady influence in a workmanlike run chase by the visitors who were in trouble early.
The exciting right hander came to the crease when the score was 3-33 and played an important part in the side’s recovery. Voges’ innings featured four boundaries and two sixes.
He joined forces with captain Marcus North (69) for a 109-run partnership and then took the game away from the Redbacks with a more free-flowing 99-run stand with Theo Doropoulos who bobbed up with a hard-hitting 42.
Doropoulos received a lucky break when Aaron O’Brien dropped him before he scored but his positive attitude was an important ingredient to the visitors’ success.
The ease at which Western Australia won is hard to believe considering its shaky start in the open moments of its dig.
It was an eventful opening spell by Tait who took the two wickets but conceded 30 runs off his first four overs.
Luke Ronchi faced just three balls before he was caught behind slashing at a wide one off the tearaway quick.
Then Luke Pomersbach, who made a century against the Redbacks in the Shield game last Thursday, had his off-stump uprooted by a 146-kilometre Tait thunderbolt.
Shaun Marsh then tried to launch a counter attack pulling two mid-wicket sixes and a boundary off the slinger’s third over.
But he was left red-faced when he left a Gary Putland delivery that clipped his off stump.
The home side then applied the screws, conceding just 18 runs off Powerplay 1, but they relaxed the fielding restrictions and the pressure was eased.
Earlier it was a maiden one-day century by Callum Ferguson that helped the Redbacks set the Warriors a tough total to chase.
Ferguson and O’Brien joined forces for a record fifth-wicket partnership of 131 to breathe life into an innings that lost momentum during the middle overs.
Ferguson raced from 50 to 100 in 27 balls with a lofted cover drive bringing up his triple-figure milestone.
In total he scored eight boundaries and two sixes during his 83-ball stay at the crease. He was run out by a Doropoulos throw from the outfield as the race for quick runs was on.
O’Brien was bowled the next ball but only after adding an unorthodox 48 runs from 59 deliveries.
The duo was particularly effective in the final 10 overs smashing 93 runs.
Spinner Aaron Heal did well to keep the run rate down during the middle overs and finished with 2-34 off his 10 overs while Brett Dorey took some stick in his second spell but bowled well overall to finish with 2-58.
Earlier in the innings, a half century on debut for Tom Cooper gave South Australia a good launching pad.
Cooper was the prime mover in home side’s dig