Queensland, Victoria unbeaten at halfway stage of Womens Under-19 nationals

Queensland and Victoria are undefeated at the half-way stage of the 2001 Australian Under-19 Women's Championships. New South Wales' campaign for their twelfth consecutive title was upset on the opening day with their first defeat in several years.

The tournament, involving all six states plus the ACT and a WCA Invitational XI, is being played at Flinders University, Adelaide, and began on Wednesday January 3. The finals will be played this coming Wednesday January 10.

Queensland produced a major upset by defeating New South Wales in the opening round on Wednesday. Kirsten Pike took 6/12 as NSW were dismissed for 138, with the Queenslanders scoring the required runs with two wickets in hand.

Queensland followed up Wednesday's important victory with wins on Thursday over Tasmania (five wickets) and on Friday over Western Australia (66 runs).

New South Wales have rebounded from their first round loss with resounding wins over WA and Tasmania. On Thursday they dismissed Western Australia for 66 to win by eight wickets, while in the third round on Friday, Sarah Andrews took 5/6 as Tasmania, chasing the NSW total of 7/231, were bundled out for 83.

Victoria are on top of Pool 'B' after three rounds. A crushing 148-run victory over the ACT was followed by a seven-wicket win over South Australia on Friday and an eight-wicket triumph over the Invitational XI. South Australia have scored wins by 28 runs and 129 runs respectively over the Invitational XI and the ACT to remain favourites to join Victoria as Pool B representatives in the semis.

With round-robin matches within each pool finalised on Friday, yesterday (Saturday) was a rest day. Sunday sees one round of cross-pool matches, after which the semi-finalists to meet on Monday will be settled.

Results so far:

Round One (3 January):

Pool A:
Tasmania 152 (L Tehla 42, K Beams 37; E Boas 5/14) lost to Western Australia 8/153 (A Ajorre De St Torre 31, T Lester 28*, L Stammers 25; E Fitzgerald 3/12)
New South Wales 138 (L Poulton 56, A Blackwell 32, S Andrews 23; K Pike 6/12) lost to Queensland 8/139 (K Marxsen 34, R Brown 29; A Blackwell 2/17).

Pool B:
Victoria 8/190 (S Edwards 54, T McCumber 41, J Hunter 24; A Jones 3/34) defeated ACT 42 (C Chippendale 18; A Chantry 4/11, K Applebee 2/3)
South Australia 7/177 (J Woerner 63, J Jackowiak 33, C Wallace 23, A Marett 21; S Morley 2/19) defeated WCA Invitational XI 159 (S Daniel 38, M Kirkham 31, A Taylor 26; A Poole 3/30, L Ebsary 2/18).

Round Two (4 January):

Pool A:
Tasmania 119 (K Beams 25; V Fitzgerald 5/26, L Randall 3/23) lost to Queensland 5/120 (B Mathieson 40, J Purves 30, K Pike 38)
Western Australia 66 (S Andrews 3/7, S Stephenson 3/14) lost to New South Wales 2/67 (S Stephenson 21*)

Pool B:
WCA Invitational XI 9/149 (S McGuirk 45*; K Britt 2/23, C Chippendale 2/21) lost to ACT 9/150 (K Britt 40, B Joice 36*; L Gray 2/33, S Daniel 2/25)
South Australia 97 (L Ebsary 25; I Noack 3/6) lost to Victoria 3/98 (S Edwards 29, B White 24, K Applebee 20; A Marett 3/28).

Round Three (5 January):

Pool A:
New South Wales 7/231 (K Blackwell 69, A Owens 37, L Poulton 35, R McGee 29, S Stephenson 22; E Fitzgerald 2/42, V Pyke 1/31) defeated Tasmania 83 (V Johnson 16, B Doyle 5*; S Andrews 5/6, A Blackwell 2/8, B Daws 2/17)
Queensland 150 (B Matheson 49, J Purvis 25; E Boase 4/15, L Stammers 2/29) defeated Western Australia 84 (P Merillees 39; L Randall 3/21, K Pike 2/11, D Costello 2/18).

Pool B:
WCA Invitational XI 108 (M Kirkham 39; A Chantry 4/22, I Noack 2/1) lost to Victoria 2/110 (S Edwards 50*, K Applebee 39 from 32 balls; S Daniel 1/17, S Morley 1/22)
South Australia 8/233 (E Sampson 90, H Marshall 67, J Woerner 20; A Jones 3/70, H Blackwell 2/21) defeated ACT 104 (H Blackwell 54, K Britt 19; J Oldfield 3/17, E Sampson 2/15, A Poole 2/25, H Pedersen 2/26).

Standings after Round Three:

Pool A: Queensland 18, New South Wales 12, Western Australia 6, Tasmania 0.

Pool B: Victoria 18, South Australia 12, ACT 6, Invitational XI 0.

Sunday's Matches:
1st Pool A v 3rd Pool B: Queensland v ACT
2nd Pool A v 4th Pool B: New South Wales v WCA Invitational XI
1st Pool B v 3rd Pool A: Victoria v Western Australia
2nd Pool B v 4th Pool A: South Australia v Tasmania.