Western suffers seven-wicket loss to ACT Southern in its final Country Championships pool match

As Western suffered a seven-wicket loss to Southern Pool winners ACT Southern Districts on Sunday afternoon at Shoalhaven's Sanctuary Point Oval - unable to defend its 175 - it resigned them to missing out on a finals appearance once more.

It left Western in second with one win from their three pool games while ACT Southern advanced to join Newcastle in the Country Championships decider.

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Western skipper Jameel Qureshi conceded his side just couldn't take their opportunities and against a quality rival like ACT Southern, that was costly.

"It was a tough one there today, we dropped a few catches early on and they went on to score a few runs," Qureshi said.

"Obviously it would have been nice to score a few more runs as well, but that's the way it goes, we just weren't good enough.

"We fought hard to get to 175, that's for sure. I think we did back ourselves on that deck because it was turning quite a bit and we have a lot of spinners, but we just couldn't execute and shot ourselves in the foot, but that's the way it goes.

"We had a crack and at end of the day that's all you can ask for, I can't fault the boys' effort. They tried their best and that's all I can ever ask."

Western went into its final Southern Pool match sitting second on the ladder and knowing that a win would be good enough to book a place in the Country Championships final for the first time since 2016-17.

Having bounced back from an opening round four-wicket loss to Greater Illawarra on Friday by posting a comprehensive nine-wicket bonus-point win over Riverina, Western's spirits were high.

But there was a reason why ACT Southern was sitting undefeated on top of the ladder and they soon showed it.

Opener Matt Everett, who had been in excellent touch against Riverina with a half century, fell for a duck in the opening over after Western won the toss and elected to bat.

Though fellow opener, Nic Broes, looked threatening as he progressed to 20 off 33, he was caught out when attempting to club what would've been his fourth boundary.

The rest of the top and upper middle order didn't make much of an impact with Ryan Peacock (10), and Dubbo duo Brock Larance (one) and Mitch Bower (seven) all falling cheaply as Western found itself at 5-44 after 19 overs.

Knowing their campaign was on the line, Bathurst duo Connor Slattery and Qureshi dug in for Western. Together they saw their side to 5-103 at the 34^th over drinks break.

Though ACT Southern then managed to snare the wickets of Slattery (35) and Qureshi (36) in quick succession, Western had more fight left.

Marty Jeffrey hit an unbeaten 28 off 40 and Dubbo teammate Ben Wheeler made 17 off 22 to give Western a total of 175.

However, given ACT Southern had made 238 batting first against Riverina on Friday and chased 195 for victory in 42 overs against Great Illawarra, Western knew it needed a big performance in the field.

Across the first five overs Western conceded just nine runs and by the 10^th over it was 0-28, Brent Tucker proving especially economical as his opening four overs cost only five.

But what Western really needed was wickets and they just didn't come. Chances were created, but the catches weren't held and at the halfway point ACT Southern was 0-121 and in the box seat.

Finally, in the 31st over with the score on 151, Bower's spin found the edge of opener Zak Keogh's bat and he was caught out at first slip for 77.

Hugh Le Lievre managed to snare a couple more victims as he finished with 2-18 off 4.1, but ACT Southern cruised to victory as the winning run came on the first ball of the 40^th over with seven wickets in hand.

While Qureshi was certainly disappointed his team couldn't better capitalise on their early chances and possibly changed the course of the match, he thinks Western can be a contender in seasons to come.

Everett showed he has class in being Western's leading scorer with 87 runs at an average of 43.50 while Le Lievre, Broes and Larance all ranked in the top 20 leading wicket-takers across the two pools.

"I think yesterday [against Riverina] was a good performance in the field and Matty Everett is a pretty serious cricketer, so if he hangs around there's a lot he'll add," the captain said.

"But there are a lot of young guys in that side. Myself and Hughie and Mitchy Bower are the eldest in that side, so there are a lot of young guys now that have plenty of experience and I'm sure they'll do well in the future.

"There are some good young cricketers there for sure."

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