Defending a modest target of 183 runs, Wanneroo bowled out Willetton in the forty-third over to win the Sunday League Grand Final at the WACA ground on Sunday night by forty-three runs.

An estimated crowd of 700 people enjoyed warm fine clear conditions as Wanneroo captain Mike Hussey won the toss and elected to set Willetton a target to chase in a day-night encounter in which fluorescent-orange coloured balls were used.

A seventy-five run eighth wicket partnership, that lasted sixty-six minutes, between Wanneroo top scorer Victor Lawes and the unbeaten Adam Lucas was the backbone of the Wanneroo innings. Run out off the last ball of the innings, Lawes scored 48 from seventy-seven balls with only one four and a six. Lucas made a tidy 33 from fifty-five balls with one four. Their partnership - at a strike rate of 73.5 - consisted mostly of graft as the majority of runs came from working the ball about for quick singles. Opener Joel Charles made the second highest score of 34 from fifty-eight balls with five fours.

Andy Gray was the pick of Willetton's bowlers. Used in a single spell of ten overs from the River End, Gray accumulated three wickets for the concession of thirty-one runs. Among his scalps were Charles and middle order batsmen David Hussey (7) and Wes Robinson (7). Gray and Phil Siljeg (2/39) bowled in tandem for eighteen overs in the middle part of the Wanneroo innings and were rewarded with five of the eight wickets that fell, conceding sixty runs at a rate of 3.3 runs per over.

A thirty-one run third wicket partnership between Richard Scragg and Shaun Marsh and a thirty run fifth wicket partnership between Marsh and the Willetton captain Mark Walsh, were both broken by means of run outs - first, that of Scragg and then Walsh later in the innings. After joining Marsh in the middle after Walsh's unfortunate departure, Paul Gasmier (19) narrowly avoided the same fate in the following over and was seen to indicate to Marsh that he should raise the level of his communication. Then, from the very next ball, Michael Hussey took a fine catch at point to remove Marsh for 52, an innings which spanned sixty-nine balls and included six fours and a six.

Marsh's work at the crease was seemingly effortless. Even the six off Callum Thorp looked facile as he eased into the lofted drive sending the ball through a flat arc over the mid wicket fence. With his frustration in clear view as he arrived at the player's race where his father and Willetton coach Geoff Marsh stood waiting, it seemed that Marsh might have realised too late that he contributed significantly to the two run outs during his innings.

Willetton complained about the number of lights illuminated in the ground's towers. A third of the globes seemed to be out, but this was not a connivance of the WACA or Wanneroo. According to the WACA's chief engineer, it was instead natural attrition.

The final four wickets (that of second top scorer Gasmier included) all fell in the space of six overs. Here too was the source of the best bowling figures for Wanneroo. Ian Purcell with two wickets for five runs from four overs, and David Hussey with 2/19, from 4.5 overs, mopped up the tail with alacrity.

But the real work was done at the beginning of the Willetton innings. Callum Thorp and Matt Mason bowled the first ten overs in collaboration restricting the Willetton openers Corey Whisson and Scragg to a mere eight runs by the fifth over. Whisson was removed trapped in front by Thorp for a duck after twenty minutes. Brad Hogg and Scragg added only seventeen for the second wicket when a double bowling change was sprung and Hogg holed out to Charles at backward point when trying to take on James Parry.

In the middle of the Willetton innings, Parry and Robinson bowled their ten overs in an unbroken spell when Marsh reigned supreme. Robinson picked up the wicket of Daniel Waters who, after twelve minutes, had failed to score.

Lawes can maybe feel a little bit unlucky that the Man of the Match award ultimately went to Marsh. There is no doubting the fact that his partnership with Lucas at the end of the Wanneroo innings rescued the team.

Similarly there is no doubt that Marsh is a talent with whom to be reckoned. Great players are in the habit of making it look all too easy and, within Marsh, there seems to be an element of another great player in Mark Waugh.

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