SW give the rest six of the best

A determined WA Country XI outfit shocked the nation when they took out the Australian Country Cricket Championships in Canberra on Tuesday.

WA Country went into its final game, a Twenty20 against South Australia, undefeated and needing a win to seal the title, but fell 22 runs short chasing four for 138, despite some great batting from captain Rodney Ford who scored 37 off 32 balls.

But when New South Wales lost to Queensland it left WA just clear of South Australia to take the title for the first time since 2011 when it was hosted in Bunbury.

Six players from the South West played in the carnival Clint Hewson, Matt Foreman, Tim Hutchison, Jacob Evans, Ross Knoll and Tyler Robertson, who was a late inclusion for Colts’ captain Clayton Caltsounis who pulled out of the competition with an injury.

WA Country coach Garth Nottle said the team did not go into the championships with any thoughts of winning, but that changed when early results went their way.

“I earmarked two or three games which I thought we could win, ” he said.

“But once we knocked off Queensland and New South Wales we were in the hunt

“Then our thoughts changed, we knew we could win. We are pretty stoked to be honest, we were going over there to just be competitive.

“We just had someone step up each game – it was a good all round team effort. All the bowlers contributed and we fielded well.”

Despite the championship win only one player from WA Country, Ford, made the Australian Country XI from the tournament.

Hutchison had a fantastic tournament, scoring 150 runs, including two half centuries, and taking six wickets in a good all round performance.

Hewson took eight wickets for the tournament and contributed runs when called upon, while Knoll and Evans showed their talent with the bat as both scored more than 100 runs in the week.

Nottle was named Australian Country XI coach, despite this being the first time the former WA Country captain had led the side in this capacity.

Nottle said it was a weird experience when he took the off-field role.

“It has been a bit different watching the guys to be honest, ” he said.

“You get them ready for the games then you have no control, that was the hardest thing I had to deal with.

“I would like to coach again, we are looking at doing it for two to three years and build this up so the Country XI is strong.”