Macalister Wright, Jackson Bird blow away New South Wales
Wright's maiden List A ton took Tasmania to a competitive total before Bird razed through NSW with a six-for
ESPNcricinfo staff
20-Nov-2019
Jackson Bird and Mac Wright helped Tasmania to a win • Getty Images
Tasmania 9 for 251 (Wright 104, Faulkner 49, Hatcher 3-46) beat New South Wales 131 (Sangha 23, Bird 6-25) by 120 runs
New South Wales ended their torrid one-day cup season with yet another loss, and their first wooden-spoon finish in 11 years, as Tasmania's Macalister Wright and Jackson Bird consigned them to a 120-run defeat in Hobart.
Wright put up a Man-of-the-Match performance, scoring a 118-ball 104 to take the hosts to 9 for 251 before Bird ended any hopes of an NSW win by razing through them to finish with career-best figures of 6 for 25.
Tasmania had lost their top three batsmen inside six overs with just 16 runs on the board, the damage caused by the Blues' quicks Liam Hatcher and Harry Conway. Wright, playing only his fifth List A game, helped Tasmania recover, getting his first runs punching Hatcher through extra cover for a boundary.
He scored steadily even as wickets kept falling at the other end and brought up his half-century off 63 balls. James Faulkner joined him and the duo added 109 for the sixth wicket, guiding Tasmania past 200. Wright brought up his maiden List A century off 114 balls and in the process, the 21-year old became the second-youngest Tasmanian after Tim Paine to score a domestic one-day cup ton. He displayed a wide range of strokes, mostly targeting the area behind square, during his knock. An impetus from the No. 8 Nathan Ellis - a 20-ball 25 - further helped Tasmania to a competitive total.
In reply, NSW openers Daniel Hughes and debutant Hayden Kerr were off to a positive start but Bird removed the duo in a span of 12 deliveries. He further dented them with a double-strike in the 11th over, removing Matthew Gilkes for 11 and Jack Edwards for a first-ball duck. From the other end, Simon Milenko dismissed Moises Henriques to leave the visitors reeling at 5 for 55.
A brief 31-run stand - the highest in NSW's innings - between Jason Sangha and captain Peter Nevill also saw its end when Riley Meredith struck to remove the former, while Bird returned to get his five-for with Nevill's wicket. He went on to record the second-best figures for Tasmania in the competition, behind Gurinder Sandhu's 7 for 56 last season, as Nathan McAndrew edged one to the wicketkeeper to become Bird's sixth victim. The last two wickets failed to put up any resistance as NSW folded for 131 in 32.3 overs.