Captain Ferguson steers South Australia to first win

South Australia 4 for 209 (Ferguson 73*, Bollinger 3-35) beat New South Wales 208 (Cowan 50, Agar 3-38, Valente 3-40) by 6 wickets
Scorecard

The captain Callum Ferguson led South Australia to their first win of this Matador Cup campaign, scoring an unbeaten 73 as the Redbacks gained a bonus point against New South Wales. Chasing 209 for victory after New South Wales were bowled out for 208, South Australia reached their target with ease in the 40th over.

While Ferguson was named Man of the Match, plenty of attention was on the South Australia batsman Tom Cooper, who the previous day had appeared at the inquest into the death of Phillip Hughes. Cooper scored a valuable 47 in the South Australia chase before becoming one of three wickets claimed by Doug Bollinger, who had also appeared at the inquest.

But the Redbacks were always on target for victory after a brisk 72-run opening stand between Alex Carey (43) and Jake Weatherald (37). The primary question became whether South Australia would gain a bonus point by winning inside 40 overs, a goal which they achieved with four balls to spare.

New South Wales had been bowled out in the 49th over, having never really gained any significant momentum during their innings. Ed Cowan top scored with 50 and Nic Maddinson made 36, but their 77-run second-wicket stand was the only fifty partnership of the innings.

South Australia's inexperienced bowling line-up kept the Blues in check, with fast bowler Wes Agar collecting 3 for 38 from nine overs, medium pacer Cameron Valente 3 for 40 from 9.3, and left-arm spinner Tom Andrews 2 for 49 from nine. The offspinner Michael Cormack was thrown in the deep end on debut, asked to bowl the first over of the game, and finished with 1 for 42 from 10 overs.