Clark hat-trick has Warriors in tatters

Western Australia 4 for 17 (Clark 4-11) trail New South Wales 270 (Jaques 71, Haddin 57, Dorey 3-57) by 253 runs
Scorecard

A hat-trick to Stuart Clark left Western Australia stunned at 4 for 17 after they kept a battling New South Wales to 270 on a low-scoring day at Perth. Clark provided the best fightback imaginable after being dropped from the Australia ODI squad and had 4 for 11 at stumps, including three wickets from three balls in his second over.

The short spell the Warriors had to face late in the day proved disastrous as Clark had Chris Rogers caught at slip from the first ball of the innings and followed up in his next over with Marcus North and Adam Voges, both of whom also edged to the slips. Steve Magoffin, the nightwatchman, was asked to face the hat-trick ball and nicked behind to Brad Haddin.

The mini-collapse gave New South Wales a dream start as Western Australia slumped to 4 for 2. David Bandy, who opened the innings and watched the carnage from the non-striker's end, was on 5 at stumps and Luke Pomersbach was 12.

Clark singlehandedly turned the game in the visitors' favour after they struggled to 270 with contributions from Phil Jaques and Haddin. The run-rate hovered barely above three an over for most of the day as a deathly-slow Simon Katich innings frustrated the Warriors, who had sent New South Wales in. Katich finished with 46 from 225 minutes at the crease but by then he had picked up his rate; at one stage he was approaching 200 minutes with only 21 on the board.

Jaques was much quicker with his 71 coming from 111 balls and Haddin also gave the crowd something to cheer, with 57 from 60 deliveries. Regular wickets kept the home side on top and it was only through Grant Lambert's fighting 49 not out at the end that the Blues added some respectability to their score.