VICTORIA picked up a nailbiting WNCL win yesterday, defeating Western Australia by two wickets.

After rain reduced Western Australia’s innings to 47 overs, the visitors went on to make 8/229.

Further rain then reduced Victoria’s innings to 44 overs, and the Vics then reached their Duckworth-Lewis adjusted target of 223 with merely three balls to spare.

Western Australia actually made a pretty solid start to its innings, putting 59 runs on the board before losing its first wicket on the penultimate ball of the 11th over. Although there were a couple of little wobbles after that, further big partnerships of 57 and 51 runs later in the innings helped further propel the innings.

Mathilda Carmichael was the star with the bat for the Western Australians, making 64. Maddy Darke also had a solid day in the middle, making a just over a run a ball 34.

Meanwhile for the Vics Georgia Prestwidge nabbed three wickets, while Ella Hayward and Tess Flintoff took a pair of wickets each.

In reply, the Vics got off to a quicker start than their visitors had, putting 72 on the board in nine overs before losing the opening wicket. They then followed that up with a 68 run second wicket partnership, but as the innings progressed and the wickets started to tumble, the run scoring started to slow dramatically.

This eventually left the Vics needing seven from the final over, but a four on the second ball of the over eased the pressure and the target was reached the very next ball.

Meg Lanning (49) and Hayward (42) were the pick of the batters for the Vics, while Nicole Faltum also made a solid contribution to the chase.

On the other side of the equation Zoe Britcliffe took a quartet of wickets for the visitors, while Lilly Mills took a pair of wickets.