WESTERN Australia has continued its ripping run of form, taking down the New South Wales Blues by nine wickets in the 2022/23 Marsh One Day Cup on Saturday.

It was a magnificent showing from WA’s bowling attack, who dismissed the entire Blues lineup in no time, while conceding just 76 runs in the process at the WACA Oval.

The Blues were dismissed by a number of culprits, but none were more damaging than Richardson, who ripped through the opposition batsmen on his way to four wickets, the most of anyone in the match.

Western Australia (1/77) def. New South Wales Blues (76)

Jhye Richardson – 4/24, did not bat

As is usually the case, Richardson opened the bowling for WA, with the fast bowler usually able to draw at least one wicket. He looked to have a tough task on his hands, with the NSW openers playing confident drives down the ground.

However, Richardson has been making appearances for his home state since 2015, so it was only a matter of time before the right-arm paceman broke through. With the perfect amount of in-swing, Richardson managed to knock over the dangerous Kurtis Patterson, who came too far across his wicket and missed contact, departing for just four runs.

Richardson remarkably claimed Matthew Gilkes in the same over, getting WA on the path to victory. Gilkes came in at three to replace Patterson, but Richardson struck again in extremely similar fashion. He rocketed the ball into the middle stump with not much deviation, after Gilkes simply misread the delivery and was sent packing on a golden duck.

Suddenly, New South Wales was 2/5 after just three overs and under an immense amount of pressure. When teammate Jason Behrendorff claimed another scalp in the following over, Richardson returned to the attack in the perfect to strike at the fresh partnership and produce another wicket.

He broke through for his third wicket in the ninth over, dismissing Jason Sangha for another duck. Sangha was playing quite defensive when faced with fuller deliveries, so Richardson produced a shorter release and forced the batsman into playing the shot above his head. Helped by a terrific catch on the boundary by Matthew Kelly, Richardson’s figures moved to 3/6 from less than five overs.

His fourth and final wicket of the day came closer to the conclusion of NSW’s innings at the crease, with Nathan Lyon the victim. It was evident that the Blues were going to struggle to get to a defendable total, so Lyon was simply trying to find as many boundaries as possible. Richardson took advantage of this and delivered a slower ball, which Lyon nicked and it was caught behind by Josh Philippe.

Richardson was not required to bat, as his bowling performance led Western Australia to a 17-over run chase.