National country cricket championships: Nathan and Julian Crudeli on fire for WA Country in carnival opener

Dynamic men’s WA Country cricket duo Julian and Nathan Crudeli ran riot in Canberra on Friday, however it was not enough to lift their State to victory against ACT Country at the Toyota Australian Country Cricket Championships. Following Julian Crudeli’s masterful innings of 98 — an innings which helped propel the Black Swans to 9-283 — brother Nathan added further misery to the home side with the ball, snaring 2-8 off his opening four overs. After initially collapsing to 3-17, the hosts fought back, with Tyler Hays hitting a boundary on the final ball of the day to pinch a two-run win from the jaws of defeat. Earlier in the day, the Crudeli boys came together with their side needing a spark at 4-76. Aside from putting on an impressive 118-run partnership for the fifth wicket, their flair and willingness to take the game on was fed upon by everyone wearing black and gold. Things went from bad to worse a day later, with Queensland Country rolling the Black Swans for a disappointing 111 and going on to win by four wickets. The only silver lining from another challenging outing was the superb bowling of Colts Cricket Club’s Cruize Ciallella, who snared 3-17 off his five-over spell. WA finally got a win on the board on Monday against South Australia, primarily due to another solid performance with the ball from Ciallella. This victory appeared to give them good momentum in round four against the Philippines, with Julian Crudeli blasting 87 from 90 balls. The carnival finishes on Friday.