Jason Behrendorff embarrasses Victoria with 14-wicket haul

Returning Western Australian paceman Jason Behrendorff has produced a sublime bowling performance to guide Western Australia to an innings defeat of Victoria in the Sheffield Shield, and the fast bowler threatened to send records tumbling at the Waca ground on Sunday.

Behrendorff’s match figures of 14-89 are the second best in Western Australia’s Sheffield Shield history, sitting behind only Terry Alderman’s 14-87 against New South Wales in 1981, and the ninth best analysis for a player from any state.

Behrendorff took 5-52 on Sunday to help dismiss Victoria for 130 in their second innings, after his remarkable nine-wicket haul shot the Bushrangers out for 117 in their first innings on Saturday.

Western Australia’s innings and 38-run outright win has lifted the them to second on the Shield table. The left-armer’s 9-37 gave him the fifth-best figures in the history of the competition. They were the best figures in the Shield in half a century – Ian Brayshaw took 10-61 for WA against Victoria in 1967.

Only Brayshaw, Tim Wall (10-36), Peter Allan (10-61) and Ike Travers (9-30) have produced better individual figures than Behrendorff’s in the first innings, and his 14 wickets for the game edged out the best match figures of Western Australian fast bowling royalty in Dennis Lillee, whose greatest Shield effort was 12-113 during the 1975-76 season.

Warriors captain Adam Voges hailed the performance of his premier strike bowler as well as those of the rest of his charges, who have won their past three Shield matches. “To get Jason Behrendorff back at this back end of the season has been crucial, he was absolutely brilliant,” Voges said.

“You get a bloke take 14 wickets in a game, you’re going to win more than you lose. There’s a lot of confidence in the change rooms at the moment. To beat a very good Victorian team, who are on top of the table by a fair bit, to win inside two days is a huge effort.”

With his side leading by 168 runs on the first innings, Behrendorff snared three wickets inside the first seven overs of Victoria’s second innings. Aaron Finch played a lone hand for the visitors with an unbeaten 65 as his teammates were outclassed by Behrendorff and teenage prodigy Cameron Green (3-20).

Behrendorff removed Travis Dean (2), Marcus Harris (10) and Marcus Stoinis (1) inside his first four overs on Sunday after the Bushrangers had earlier dismissed the Warriors for 285, a lead of 168.

The left-arm quick – who was playing his first professional match after a three-month injury layoff – had each of his victims caught behind the wicket, with Dean edging to Cameron Bancroft at second slip and Harris and Stoinis both offering catches to Ashton Turner at third.

Cameron White (6) threw away his wicket five minutes before the tea break, slashing at a wide delivery from Green. Warriors veteran Michael Klinger took a stunning catch in the gully to remove tailender Jon Holland and give Behrendorff his fourth wicket of the innings, before the 26-year-old fast bowler trapped No11 Scott Boland LBW.

A disappointed White expected his side to rebound for their return clash with Western Australia in Alice Springs, starting March 8. “That was a touch embarrassing ... we were just totally outplayed,” White said. “We play WA again, so that will be a good test of character for us. I wish the match started in a few days, to be honest.”

“We’ve played some good cricket this year. We know the conditions well in Alice Springs, so we’ll be up for the contest.”