Nathan Coulter-Nile bowled a match-defining spell in a Sheffield Shield match between Tasmania and Western Australia. Coulter-Nile took 3 wickets for 23 runs in the second innings helping Western Australia win the match by a huge margin of 301 runs in the recently concluded fixture. After getting two quick wickets in the second innings sending Jake Doran and Alex Doolan. But Coulter-Nile had to something special to take the wicket of George Bailey which surprised everyone on and off the field.
On the last ball of the seventh over Coulter-Nile pitched the ball up. Bailey defended his wicket and pushed it back to the bowler. The fast bowler displayed unreal reflexes to dive forward in his follow-through to catch hold of the ball. The catch stunned everyone as West Australian teammates ran towards the bowler to congratulate.
Coulter-Nile bowled a near-perfect opening spell in the fourth innings of the match reducing Tasmania to 4 for 13 at the end of 7th over as they came out to chase 364 runs. The impact of his spell with the new ball was such that Tasmanian batting lineup suffered a major batting collapse. They were bundled out for 63 in 23.1 overs. Only one Tasmanian batsman could cross the double digits. Beau Webster scored 33 runs and remained unbeaten.
Here’s the video of the splendid catch –
— Editor Meetesh (@EditorMeetesh) October 30, 2017
Coulter-Nile took one wicket in the first innings as well. Australia have not yet announced the squad for the upcoming Ashes 2017-18. He might get picked up in the side for his performances in the domestic circuit and in the international cricket in the limited overs format.
The 30-year-old did not just contributed with the ball. He scored 42 runs in the first innings followed by a half-century in the second innings. He can be a crucial addition to the Australian squad given his all-round skills as a lower order batsman down the order.
