THE South Australian Outbacks cricket side continued its good form in the Australian Country Championships in Western Australia on Tuesday, with a hard-fought victory over Queensland.
The win came in the final over of the one-day match, with just two balls to spare.
The Outbacks were forced to bowl first, after Queensland won the toss and elected to wield the willow.
But the wickets began to fall regularly, with the opening partnership shattered with just 11 runs on the board after Gerard Fox was judged lbw off Sean Nottle.
Incoming batsmen and Queensland captain James Spargo was sent back to the dressing room with no further runs added – another victim of Nottle – and the Outbacks were looking good.
When Jake Roach was stumped by Dion Stratford, the Queenslanders had slumped to 4/21 and were in real trouble.
Josh Fidler was then in on the action, holding a catch to send Sean Fitzsimmons on his way and the scorecard read 5/43.
But the Queenslanders dug in and managed to hobble together another 70 runs before the next wicket fell at 113.
As the overs ran down Stratford was again in on the action, whipping the bails off to have Christopher Hall short of his crease, with the total then at 9/132.
The Queenslanders went on to post another 11 runs off the full 50 overs, which looked short of the total required.
However, the Outbacks suffered an early blow when Matt McInerney fell for just one run with the total at four.
From there fellow opener Brodie O’Dea and the incoming Peter Wilson consolidated with a partnership of 37 before the latter departed after offering 23 to the chase.
A timely 41 from Ben Parish kept the Outbacks in the chase, with Stratford the best of the Limestone Coast players, adding a handy 21 off his 51 balls.
Nick McInerney was only able to contribute six runs from nine balls faced and Alex Hentshke was unable to bother the scorers, run out from his first ball.
But Fidler found himself playing an important role as the game wound down.
He was paired with Joe Brown in the middle when the winning runs came, with just three balls to play, handing the Outbacks their first win in the one-day format competition.
The Outbacks were set to face East Asia Pacific in their second one-day fixture on Wednesday.
