Blues secure place in Women's League final

The NSWIS (New South Wales Institute of Sports) Blues secured their place in the 1999/2000 Women's National Cricket League finals with wins in both matches in this weekend's double-header against the Queensland Fire at Newcastle. The Blues are undefeated in their first six matches with just two in the round-robin to play.

The Blues followed up their 44 run win over the Fire on Saturday with a 97 run demolition on Sunday. Queensland are yet to register a win after six matches.

Saturday's match started in sensational fashion with NSW captain Belinda Clark out bowled on the first ball of the game by Kelly Klibbe. Lisa Keightley (69) and Michelle Gozsko (59) added 137 for the second wicket, before the Blues finished their fifty overs with 5/215. Queensland were contained to 5/171 in reply.

New South Wales again batted first on Sunday, with Clark and Keightley sharing an opening partnership of 158. With the Queensland bowlers unable to make the breakthrough, Clark was run out attempting a quick single when on 69, in the 37th over. Keightley (74) fell in similar fashion with the addition of one more run. The Blues completed their fifty overs with 5/231, the first three wickets falling to run-outs.

Queensland slumped into trouble almost immediately against the formidable pace attack of Bronwyn Calver (2/18) and Debbie Nelson (2/15). After fifteen overs the Fire were 4/33 with the new-ball pair taking two wickets apiece. With Queensland falling well behind the required run-rate, a sub-hundred total was on the cards until a late-order rally pushed the final Queensland score to 134 in 41.3 overs. Lisa Sthalekar, an off-spinner with an action reminiscent of Ashley Mallett, was the most successful of the Blues' bowlers with 3/22 from eight overs.

Honours were even in the weekend's other double-header at Adelaide University. The South Australian Scorpions were too good on Saturday, registering their first win of the season as the Victorian Spirit failed by twelve runs in pursuit of 208 for victory. The Spirit were more successful on Sunday, reaching a target of 139 with just one wicket in hand. South Australian all-rounder Karen Rolton had an outstanding weekend, with 82 and 2/28 on Saturday and 51 and 3/20 on Sunday.

Victoria, with four wins out of six matches played, are the most likely team to oppose NSW in the best-of-three finals at the Sydney Cricket Ground commencing December 17. Next week's double-header between the two at the Victorian regional centre of Colac could well be a preview.

The Western Fury also have a serious chance of making the final, while South Australia would need to win all four of their remaining games to have any chance. The winless Queenslanders are now out of the running.

The competition ladder after this weekend's matches, with all teams to play a total of eight:

Played  Win Loss
New South Wales    6      6  0
Victoria           6      4  2
Western Australia  6      3  3
South Australia    4      1  3
Queensland         6      0  6

Remaining matches: December 4 & 5: South Australia v Queensland, Victoria v NSW; December 11 & 12: Western Australia v South Australia. Best-of-three final: December 17 to 19.