Cowan and Starc set up another NSW win

New South Wales 5 for 264 (Cowan 100, Maddinson 74, M Marsh 3-36) beat Western Australia 189 (Klinger 51, Starc 4-23, Sandhu 4-29) by 75 runs
Scorecard

Mitchell Starc has continued to dominate the Matador Cup, with a four-wicket haul that helped ensure a third successive victory for New South Wales. However, Starc missed out on the chance for a third consecutive Man-of-the-Match award, with opener Ed Cowan given the honour after his century that set up the win over Western Australia.

Set 265 for victory, the Warriors struggled against the class of Starc and the awkward lengths served up by Gurinder Sandhu. Western Australia collapsed to be 4 for 18 in the ninth over and it was only through a 93-run partnership between Michael Klinger and Sam Whiteman that they fought their way back into the contest, although they were eventually bowled out for 189.

Sandhu claimed the first wicket, Shaun Marsh caught behind for 1, before Starc picked off three more in the space of two of his overs. Cameron Bancroft found scoring almost impossible and on 5 from 28 balls he edged Starc to slip, before Mitchell Marsh was bowled next ball. Adam Voges survived the hat-trick delivery but played on for 2 in Starc's next over.

Whiteman and Klinger rebuilt as best they could, but Sandhu all but confirmed the result when he dismissed them both in the same over. Whiteman (45) toe-edged an attempted hook and was caught at midwicket, and Klinger (51) chipped a catch to midwicket to leave the Warriors in serious trouble at 6 for 112.

Sandhu claimed another wicket to finish with 4 for 29 from his ten overs, Sean Abbott chipped in with two victims and Starc finished the job by bowling Andrew Tye in the 45th over. Starc ended up with 4 for 23 to add to the 6 for 25 he claimed against the Cricket Australia XI and his 4 for 27 against South Australia. He has 14 wickets at the remarkable average of 5.35 in this tournament.

The shaky Western Australian start was quite the opposite of the opening New South Wales had earlier in the day, when Cowan and Nic Maddinson put on 133 for the first wicket. Maddinson made 74 before he fell to the bowling of Mitchell Marsh, who then had Steven Smith caught behind for a duck two balls later.

But Cowan steered the innings at a calm tempo, striking six fours in his 100 from 139 deliveries. It was the fourth one-day century of his domestic career, and although he eventually provided Marsh with a third wicket Cowan had given New South Wales the platform to build to 5 for 264, which was enough not only for a win, but in the end for a bonus point as well.