Superior bowling and solid batting by the Victorian Spirit overcame the Western Fury with victory by 8 wickets at Abbett Park in Perth today.

The Fury were bowled out for a score of 126 in the forty-third over of their innings. In reply the Spirit lost two wickets on their way to victory in the thirtieth over.

The main difference between the teams today was in their bowling. The Spirit had the pace and penetration to regularly take the Fury wickets whilst their opponent relied on spin and medium pace.

In contrast to yesterdays match - the Fury players were running well between the wickets. There was virtually no hesitation throughout their innings. The fielding of the Spirit side was marginally better than yesterday, it was the bowlers however who won the day for their team.

Conditions were perfect - clear skies and a mere zephyr of wind at the start of play. Zoe Goss won the toss for the Fury and elected to bat first.

Openers Elwyn Campbell and Angelle Gray had put 15 runs on the board when Gray was trapped in front - leg before wicket to Clea Smith after scoring 3 runs from 10 balls.

Campbell and Fury captain Zoe Goss saw off the Victorian pace bowler Cathryn Fitzpatrick adding 36 to the score when Goss 11 (from 23 balls) was bowled around her legs by Jodi Dean in the fifteenth over of the innings with the Fury score two wickets for 51.

Campbell and Sarah Collyer added 21 more to the score when Campbell 34 (84) played inside the line of a delivery from Jane Franklin and had the off stump removed and was out bowled when the Fury score was 72 for the third wicket.

The fourth wicket partnership of English pair Collyer and Dawn Holden came undone when the score was 87. They were together only eight minutes adding fifteen from seventeen balls when Holden 5 (11) guided a Sarah Young delivery into the safe hands of Louise Broadfoot at second slip.

Collyer and Avril Fahey added twelve runs for the fifth wicket, bringing the Fury score to 99 when Collyer 24 (44) bottom edged a ball from Franklin into the gloves of Spirit wicket keeper Amelie Hunter who was standing up at the stumps.

Avril Fahey 3 (17) was trapped in front by Young out leg before wicket, before her sixth wicket partner Lauren Stammers could open her account and thus the sixth wicket went with 102 runs on the scoreboard in the thirty-third over.

Breaking the seventh wicket partnership worth fourteen runs, Shannon Young had Lauren Stammers 10 (16) caught by Melanie Jones. The Fury fighting hard to stave off the attack with 116 runs.

Kelly Tyrrell 2 (5) lofted into the outfield off an outside edge and was caught out there by Kelly Applebee off the bowling of Louise Broadfoot.

The ninth wicket to fall was that of Renee Chappell 3 (16) who lofted a drive off Young and was at mid off caught by Belinda Clark. The Western Fury were had scored 121 in the thirty-ninth over.

Zoe Kissane 4 (13) failed to dig out a full ball from the pace bowler Fitzpatrick, second ball of her new spell, bowled out and the last batsman out, leaving Connie Wong 2 (15) undefeated for the second time in two games. So the Western Fury were all out for 126 two balls into the forty-third over.

At at asking rate of just 2.54 per over the Victorian Spirit were set for a quick victory. They were propelled to that position by their bowling. Each of the six bowlers used was rewarded with at least one scalp. The best figures were of Shannon Young who took four wickets conceding 23 runs from eight overs. Jane Franklin chipped in with two wickets for 14 from five overs and Louise Broadfoot one wicket for 9 from five overs was the most economical. The other bowlers used were Cathryn Fitzpatrick, Clea Smith and Jodi Dean with a wicket each.

The first wicket partnership of Louise Broadfoot and Belinda Clark erased 78 runs from the target before their union in the middle was broken. Clark chased at a ball outside off from Kelly Tyrrell and gave a catch off the driven edge to Angelle Gray at a wide second slip position.

An hour into the Victorian reply, a stiff westerly breeze arrived. This greatly assisted the slower bowlers from the Fury, adding drift to the spin they were exerting off the pitch. The bowling in general lacked the penetration of the Victorian Spirit.

The wicket of Louise Broadfoot fell when she was caught at first slip by Zoe Goss off the bowling of Dawn Holden for 23 (61). Twelve runs was the value of the second wicket partnership with Kelly Applebee. Their partnership was broken with the score of 90 in the twenty-first over.

Kelly Applebee 29 (42) and Melanie Jones 10 (25) brought the Spirit ship home in the thirtieth over.

The Fury used six bowlers in the defense of their total. Only Kelly Tyrrell (1-8) and Dawn Holden (1-17) were successful. The other bowlers used were Zoe Goss, Sarah Collyer, Patrice Berthold and Avril Fahey.

Shannon Young was awarded the man of the match award for her four wicket haul in the Fury innings.

The next matches for Victoria Spirit is away to the New South Wales Institute of Sport in Sydney, 7 and 8 December 2002. At the same time the Western Fury will be playing their next matches away to the Southern Scorpions at Adelaide.

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