A lone hand from Wes Robinson has helped Western Australia post 199 after New South Wales paceman Trent Copeland claimed a five-wicket haul in the Ryobi Cup clash at the SCG.
A lone hand from Wes Robinson has helped Western Australia post 199 after New South Wales paceman Trent Copeland claimed a five-wicket haul in the Ryobi Cup clash at the SCG.
Robinson watched on in horror as Copeland ripped through the Warriors top order with three wickets in his opening spell as the visitors slumped to 4-14 after winning the toss and batting in overcast conditions.
The left-handed opener's gritty innings of 87 off 130 balls included five boundaries and two sixes and saved the winless Warriors from total embarrassment.
Nathan Rimmington (46 off 60) showed some fight, putting on 80-runs for the seventh wicket with Robinson before becoming Copeland's fourth victim.
Fittingly, Copeland claimed the final wicket of the innings when Jason Behrendorff (seven) holed out to Phil Jaques in the deep to seal his five-wicket haul and send a timely reminder to Test selectors.
Former Test spinner Nathan Hauritz picked up two wickets upon return from injury to finish with 2-43 off 13 overs.
Heavy rain and possible thunderstorms are predicted to hit the SCG and rain already reduced the Blues' victory target to 193 from 46 overs.
After winning the toss and electing to bat in overcast conditions, the visitors were immediately on the back foot when Copeland removed Marcus Harris (zero), Travis Birt (six) and Tom Beaton (zero) in a destructive opening spell.
Harris was first to fall when he attempted to shoulder arms to a wide ball from Copeland but only succeeded in edging to Peter Nevill who took a regulation catch behind the stumps.
Birt became Copeland's second victim when he edged an attempted to drive straight to Steve Smith who took a sharp chance in the gully.
The carnage continued when Beaton drove at a wide delivery from Copeland and edged to Simon Katich at slip to leave the visitors in deep trouble.
Josh Lalor (1-55) got in on the action next over when he trapped Cameron Bancroft lbw for a second-ball duck.
Bancroft was clearly unimpressed by the decision but began the long trudge back to the pavilion.
There was mass confusion when the umpires conferred, with Bancroft pausing in the hope he would be recalled before being given his marching orders for the second time.
Skipper Luke Ronchi (16) had a lucky escape on one when he spooned the ball just wide of Copeland who was unable to get to the ball before it landed safely.
Ronchi steadied with consecutive boundaries through the covers, before Robinson took advantage of a free-hit when he dispatched Lalor over the mid-wicket fence for the first six of the innings.
But the fightback came to an abrupt end when Ronchi flashed debutant Timm van der Gugten (1-42) straight to Smith at point to give the youngster a wicket from just his third Ryobi Cup delivery.
D'Arcy Short was next to go when he edged returning spinner Nathan Hauritz to Nevill behind the stumps for three.
