WNCL: WA coach Becky Grundy ‘immensely proud’ after push for place in the final ends with loss to ACT

WA coach Becky Grundy says she is “immensely proud” of her side after their push for a place in the Women’s National Cricket League final fell agonisingly short. Entering their final game of the home and away season riding a seven-match winning streak, WA’s hopes of jumping up to second spot on the ladder and featuring in the decider rested on notching a comprehensive win over ACT to both secure a bonus point and give their net run rate a big boost. Bowling the Meteors out for 205 left the equation for their chase at 113 deliveries to surpass Queensland, which Maddy Darke (42) and Heather Graham (25) went about tracking down in good time. But the pair’s departures served as bookends in a collapse of 4-25 to all but cruel their chances of finishing inside the top two, with the visitors holding on to claim a 13-run win after their hopes had evaporated. Grundy said she was stoked to see her side attack the chase with an attitude brimming with belief. “As much as we lost and it would’ve been nice to finish on a win, we gave it a crack,” Grundy said. “If you think we were 0-4 at the start of the season, to go and win seven games on the bounce and come into the last game in finals contention, there’s been some vast improvements across the group. “I’m super proud of how we’ve shown that fight post-Christmas.” A third-placed finish is WA’s best since their title-winning 2019-20 campaign and represents a marked improvement from last season, which they finished at the foot of the ladder with only three wins. Grundy said the belief they had built in their own ability had been invaluable. “It’s really important that we harness that and take that into next year,” she said. “We’ll reflect and we’ll review like we always do and we’ll then shape our pre-season around where we can make tweaks to keep building on this. “This is a really cool platform for us to be able to build on going into next season, knowing that the game keeps moving, so we have to keep moving with it.”