McFadyen stars again in another Top End nail-biter

Four days after his final-over heroics earned the Cricket Australia XI a tie in the opening match of the Top End one-day series, teenage allrounder Noah McFadyen almost carried his team across the line in another last-gasp finish in Darwin yesterday.

Northern Territory Strike looked to have game two of the three-match series in their keeping through the contribution of Tasmania allrounder Beau Webster who top-scored with 66 from 64 balls then claimed the first three CA XI wickets to fall having opened the bowling.

When fellow allrounder Jason Isakka snared another three scalps in quick succession, CA XI were listing at 6-87 in the 25th over with New South Wales batter – and game one century-maker – Jack Edwards carrying the hopes of a team made up largely of under-19 players from around Australia.

Edwards was unable to repeat his heroics of last Sunday when he had opened the CA XI innings, falling for 28 when he bunted a return catch to Strike skipper and joint winner of last summer's Marsh One-Day Cup player of the year award, Tom Andrews.

At that stage, CA XI were 7-141 in the 37th over and requiring a distant 76 runs from 79 balls for an improbable victory on a slowish pitch at Darwin's DXC Arena.

But it proved a minor inconvenience for McFadyen, the son of former Tasmania coach now CA Performance Systems and Analysis Manager Brian McFadyen who had showcased his bowling skills on Sunday by conceding just four runs and capturing a vital wicket in the game's ultimate over.

Last night, it was his nerveless batting that carried CA to the cusp of a remarkable win as he crafted a canny 52 from 86 balls and put together a 57-run stand for the eighth wicket with fellow Queensland allrounder Josh Kann that suddenly saw their team needing 19 for victory from the final 14 deliveries.

"When I came in, we were quite a few wickets down so I was just trying rebuild the innings and if I took a few more balls than I'd hoped to then I thought that was fine," said McFadyen, who also won selection in the AFL's all-Australian under-16 team last year.

"Just as long as I could take it to the 50th over and win it then.

"But I didn't get the opportunity."

The teenage allrounder's innings ended in the penultimate over when his batting partner, Reiley Mark, pushed a delivery from Andrews to cover and instinctively took off for a run before hesitating mid-pitch, with McFadyen narrowly failing to beat Webster's return to the keeper.

Having taken the field for their defence of 216 with the sage advice of their veteran coach Greg Shipperd resonating – "just don't tie another game" – NT Strike found themselves facing precisely that potential outcome with CA XI's last pair at the crease.

Former Australia ODI representative Chris Tremain, who had clubbed an unbeaten 32 from 19 balls in the opening game, loomed as an unlikely batting hero when he pulled off an ungainly reverse ramp in the final over that yielded a boundary and left CA XI needing four to win from the last two deliveries.

But Strike left-arm paceman Blade Baxter outfoxed the veteran quick to concede just a single from the remainder of the over.

While McFadyen's innings ensured the second nail-biting finish in as many games for the Top End Series, it was Webster's all-round poise that proved decisive.

The 27-year-old, who qualifies for the NT Strike outfit having played club cricket in the Top End in recent off-seasons, provided stability to his team's middle-order after they slumped to 3-56 and then figured in a couple of crucial partnerships to help post a defendable total.

Webster added 44 for the fourth wicket with his Tasmania teammate Andrews, and then forged an important 89-run union with Darwin local Matt Hammond (60no from 71 balls) before falling to Kann (CA XI's best bowler with 2-43) in the 46th over.

The allrounder, who decided to supplement his off-spin bowling with seam-up during last year's COVID-19 lockdown, then opened the bowling and removed CA XI opener Toby Snell (Queensland) with his sixth delivery.

In his next over, Webster had CA XI's other opener Teague Wyllie (WA) squared-up and trapped lbw, and when he coaxed rival skipper Dylan Kritzinger (Qld) to pull a short ball to a fielder behind square leg he had singlehandedly dismantled the visiting team's top-order to leave them 3-46.

It was then the turn of Isakka, who dismissed NSW-capped batter Jason Sangha with a looping bouncer before removing Victoria's Campbell Kellaway for a first-ball duck and South Australia's Sam Rahaley (17) as the CA XI's hopes of chasing down the total seemingly disappeared at 6-87.

But with just over 25 overs remaining in the innings, McFadyen refused to concede the task was beyond the team that had only managed two training sessions as a group prior to the start of the Top End Series and was bolstered yesterday by Test skipper Tim Paine's arrival as an assistant coach.

Sunday's final match will be a day-night fixture at DXC Arena before the launch of the TIO Strike League T20 competition which features four Darwin-based teams as well as KFC BBL rivals Melbourne Stars and Melbourne Renegades.