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Sheffield Shield: Hilton Cartwright, Cam Gannon, Liam O’Connor help WA hang on for miracle draw against SA

Headshot of Jordan McArdle
Jordan McArdleThe West Australian
Shaun Marsh and Hilton Cartwright were vital with the bat for WA.
Camera IconShaun Marsh and Hilton Cartwright were vital with the bat for WA. Credit: Paul Kane/Getty Images

Injured allrounder Hilton Cartwright and tail-enders Cam Gannon and Liam O’Connor helped Western Australia hang on for a miracle Sheffield Shield draw against South Australia at the WACA Ground today.

Cartwright carried WA on his injured back for more than two hours, combining for a pair of rearguard stands with captain Shaun Marsh and club teammate Cam Gannon.

Less than 24 hours after struggling to get off the field because of a lumbar spasm episode, Cartwright produced a defiant 122-ball knock of 25.

Two weeks after batting South Perth to a Premier Cricket T20 flag with a swashbuckling 64 off 27 balls at the same venue, Gannon (13no off 65) produced a different type of heroic knock as WA finished on 9-148.

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Gannon and No.11 Liam O’Connor, who backed up his three-wicket bowling performance with a memorable zero not out off 11 balls, fighting out the last 4.5 overs to deny the Redbacks their first win of the season.

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With the help of Deep Heat and painkillers Cartwright produced a gutsy knock with few aggressive strokes, stone-walling the opposition bowling attack who resorted to short-pitched stuff and a bit of extra chatter.

The 29-year-old couldn’t even field on the final day due to a back issue, but was forced to come out to bat at No.7 with WA in massive trouble at 5-88, still needing to see out a further 45 overs.

South Australian captain Travis Head’s pre-lunch declaration on 9-230 kept all three results in play and gave WA a fourth-innings target of 332 in 75 overs.

“I got up for the game and I was feeling pretty good but the paper clip theory, as soon as you keep pushing your back too far it eventually snaps,” Cartwright said.

“As I went down for that ball in the field I had that same feeling I had last week when I got out of bed.

“Thankfully it was more just the muscles around it seizing up, my disc flared up a little bit and it wasn’t too bad.

“Thankfully the doctors flushed through my back and got some nice painkillers on board for me to be able to go out there and be able to face some pretty decent bowling.”

Cartwright had “100 per cent” faith Gannon could get the job done, but wasn’t so sure about O’Connor before witnessing “the best zero you’ll see”.

“It’s probably the best zero you’ll see, especially from the sidelines,” Cartwright said.

“I was 100 per cent confident in ‘Ganno’ (Cam Gannon), he’d faced 50 or 60 balls when I got out, I was pretty confident with ‘Guth’ (Liam Guthrie), he’s very capable at club level and made a few runs at this level.

“When ‘Lemo’ (Liam O’Connor) went out there, I was pretty worried.

“I’ve seen him bat quite a bit but to his credit, he faced 11 balls, albeit it ended in quite surreal circumstances, managing to chip one where the fielder wasn’t.”

Daniel Worrall of South Australia bowls during the Sheffield Shield match between Western Australia and South Australia.
Camera IconDaniel Worrall of South Australia bowls during the Sheffield Shield match between Western Australia and South Australia. Credit: Paul Kane/Getty Images

Young seamer David Grant destroyed the home side’s top-order in just his fifth first-class outing, grabbing four wickets to spark a collapse of 5-53, while Daniel Worrall (4-30) did the damage late as the match went down to the final ball.

Grant did what no other bowler was able to do in 543 balls and 369 runs across three innings, dismiss run machine Cam Green on his way to career-best figures of 4-38.

After unbeaten knocks of 201 and 168, the Test allrounder was out LBW for a second-ball duck and looked surprised by the decision with the ball angling down the legside.

Fellow Australian representatives Cam Bancroft (30) and Marsh (45) were also among Grant’s scalps in a breakout performance.

But by tea time, any hope of a WA victory was lost with the score at 5-98 and only the tail to come.

It was a change in fortunes for both players in the match with Grant bringing up an unwanted century in the first innings with figures of 0-102.

Like Green, Aaron Hardie didn’t trouble the scorers as WA lost two wickets on 62 and another two on 88.

Josh Inglis (17 off 22) was promoted to No.5 in search of boundaries and managed four before hitting one straight to Henry Hunt at backward point off Grant.

Once Inglis departed, attacking mode swiftly turned into survival mode.

The visitors resumed on 4-142 and kept the scoreboard ticking over with Alex Carey (82no) and Harry Nielsen (67) reaching their half-centuries in the third and four overs respectively.

Nielsen had a slice of luck getting to his, with gloveman Josh Inglis dropping him on 49 off paceman Gannon and the ball racing to the boundary.

Gannon eventually got his man, well caught by Cam Green at gully, to end a 121-run fifth-wicket stand.

It sparked a collapse of 5-36 with the Redbacks’ tail crumbling in pursuit of quick runs.

O’Connor, who was wicketless coming into the final day, turned his game around with a brilliant spell in the morning session.

He took two wickets in three balls before knocking over David Grant with a perfectly-flighted wrong’un to finish with an innings-best 3-53.

WA’s next shield assignment is against Queensland at the Gabba, starting March 6, but start their Marsh One-Day Cup defence against South Australia at the WACA on Tuesday.

Cartwright admits he’s “not that hopeful” about getting up for the match with such a short turnaround.

“Given we’ve got a one day turnaround, I’m not that hopeful,” he said.

“I know how these things go and I guess my chances of playing that game are probably pretty slim but if I pull up well, I’ll just have to get hold of the doc again and get that Deep Heat back out.”

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