Mitchell Marsh steers Western Australia to JLT Cup title

Western Australia 4 for 250 (M Marsh 80*, Bancroft 76) beat South Australia 9 for 248 (Cooper 63, Valente 38, Tye 2-43) by six wickets
Scorecard

Western Australia captain Mitchell Marsh led his state to a comfortable victory over South Australia to lift the domestic limited overs trophy at Bellerive Oval in Hobart on Saturday.

South Australia made a swift start after winning the toss, but the loss of regular wickets limited their chances of posting the sort of totals that had allowed them to beat Western Australia in the qualifying rounds and Victoria in the elimination final.

Western Australia, who had been unbeaten before the SA loss, were then able to reel them in with 38 balls to spare, largely due to the efforts of Mitchell Marsh and Cameron Bancroft, the sometime-Test opening contender, but now a free-scoring gloveman.

While Mitchell Marsh was named Man of the Match, at a time when his recovery from shoulder surgery rules him out of bowling and by extension an Ashes berth, it was his brother Shaun Marsh who was named Man of the Tournament for a string of outstanding displays at the top of the batting order.

South Asutralia had started fluently through a first-over boundary from Alex Carey, but the early dismissals of the wicketkeeper and dual tournament centurion Jake Weatherald set a pattern. South Australia scored freely but lost regular wickets, which meant the later acceleration typical of their bigger totals was instead a steady stand between Tom Cooper and Cameron Valente followed by a late rush of wickets.

Their new-ball bowling had been another feature of their progress, but after Michael Klinger fell early and Shaun Marsh had not fired from the start, Mitchell Marsh and Bancroft missed scarcely a beat in bringing the target under control. Long touted as a future leader by his coach Justin Langer, Mitchell Marsh has aced his very first exam as state captain.