New South Wales claim title by default

By PETER PUSAL
New South Wales have been awarded the Australian Country Cricket Championship over Queensland after rain, which has had a continuous presence since Monday, preventing any play in the final round in Mackay.
NSW claimed the prized Cricket Australia Shield by virtue of just 0.95 points edging out Queensland in what would have been the most anticipated match of the championship.
NSW, who had claimed victories over South Australia, East Asia Pacific and Victoria during the championships, managed to top the point’s ladder even though QLD had finished on virtually equal points, the difference being NSW snapping up three late wickets in their first innings of their Round four washout match against Western Australia. With each wicket worth a bonus 0.3 point this provided them with the crucial margin to clinch the shield.
South Australia will be the host state for the Australian Country Cricket Championship next year with teams to converge the wine growing region of Barossa Valley and hopefully the East Asia Pacific team’s fortunes will be different then.
Previously, rain had put a dampener on proceedings going into the final round of the Australian Country Cricket Championships with matches abandoned before play as ground staff at Harrup Park in Mackay could not work on the water-logged fields since the beginning of the week.
Unfortunately the one-day match between an Australian Country XI and The Queensland Bulls could not take place either because of the rain.