D’Arcy Short came within 11 runs of the highest individual List A score, plundering 257 off 148 balls aided by a record 23 sixes, the most in an innings. His knock, the highest one-day score by an Australian, led Western Australia to a 116-run win against Queensland in the JLT One-Day Cup at the Hurstville Oval in Sydney.
Short overtook Shikhar Dhawan to register the third-highest List A score, behind Ali Brown’s 268 and Rohit Sharma’s 264.
Queensland had a flying start in their chase and needed 143 runs in the last 15 overs with seven wickets in hand, but the middle and lower order could not build on opener Sam Heazlett‘s century (107).
Once Queensland opted to bowl, Short was the only Western Australia batsman to cross 30, as wickets tumbled at the other end. He walked out to bat at 1 for 19, which was soon 2 for 23, before he stitched fifty partnerships with captain Ashton Turner, Marcus Stoinis and Hilton Cartwright.
The biggest stand of the match was for the seventh wicket, of 109 runs between Short and Mathew Kelly, that catapulted them to 338 in the 43 over. Short was in such flow, he reached all his milestones of 100, 150, 200 and 250 with sixes, and 200 and 250 with three consecutive sixes against Charlie Hemphrey and Luke Feldman respectively.
His knock was only the fourth score of 200 or more by an Australian, in addition to Ben Dunk’s unbeaten 229, Phillip Hughes’ unbeaten 202 and Travid Head’s 202 – incidentally all left-handers.
He was particularly severe on leg-spinner Mitchell Swepson, who conceded 97 runs in eight overs. A shattered window on the ground epitomised the impact of Short’s unbridled assault, which only included four fours and a six till the 20th over.
But by the time he was stumped in the 46th over, he had racked up 15 fours and 23 sixes – equalling Colin Munro’s sixes total in a first-class match – in all, for a combined 198 runs.
Western Australia lasted only 10 more deliveries once he was dismissed, for 387, the sixth-highest total in Australia’s domestic one-day competitions. Feldman was the only bowler to end with an economy rate of under six per over, taking 2 for 59 in his 10 overs.
Queensland’s chase was also helped by Chris Lynn’s 48-ball 58 till the 21st over. But once Lynn, Hemphrey (46) and Heazlett were dismissed by the 34th over, Queensland were wrapped up in another 56 deliveries for only 33 runs.
Andrew Tye ran through the line-up, first removing Lynn and then the last five wickets, finishing with career-best figures of 6-46. The win was Western Australia’s fourth on the bounce this season to continue their unbeaten run. (ESPNCricinfo)
