Paris, Cartwright lead WA to hat-trick of Marsh Cup titles in final against NSW
Written by I Dig SportsWestern Australia 170 for 5 (Cartwright 73*, Philippe 42, Edwards 1-22) beat New South Wales 169 (Davies 51, Paris 4-21, Agar 2-35) by five wickets
The recent dominant force in domestic cricket, WA set up their latest limited-overs victory when they skittled the hosts for just 169 at Sydney's Cricket Central on Sunday.
Left-arm quick Paris led the rout in his first one-day appearance of the season, with Ashton Agar and Andrew Tye also claiming multiple wickets.
Cartwright stepped up with his first half-century of the season - the eighth of his career - to lead all scorers and steer the visitors safely past the victory target with Nick Hobson. There were more than 16 overs to spare when Cartwright blasted the third six of his 80-ball innings.
WA are only the second state to claim a hat-trick of one-day titles, and the first in more than two decades since NSW did it for the second time after their hat-trick in 2002-03. It was WA's sixth one-day title in the last decade, and a record-extending 17th overall since the competition began in 1969.
NSW were sent in to bat and reached a healthy position when top-scorer Oliver Davies and Moises Henriques put on 74 for the fourth wicket. But captain Henriques fell when Agar claimed a sharp return catch off his own bowling, triggering a collapse. NSW lost their last seven wickets for just 34 runs and were bowled out in just 42 overs.
Davies hit the only six of the innings when he hoisted Cooper Connolly over deep midwicket, and left a pair of WA fielders searching for the ball in thick scrub surrounding the venue.
WA will go in search of more silverware when their Sheffield Shield campaign resumes in March, having won the four-day competition in each of the past two seasons.