Western Australia’s Men’s Aboriginal team has rounded out a dominant National Indigenous Cricket Championships campaign in style, defeating Victoria by five wickets in the Final at Great Barrier Reef Arena.
Dominant WA Record Second NICC Title In Three Years
WA entered the final having recorded six wins and one no result in their seven matches against the other competing teams and stamped their credentials as the side to beat in the Final.
Victoria got off to a strong start in the match, with opening batters Damon Egan and Kane Hawkins putting on 59 for the first wicket.
WA then took wickets at regular intervals through the back end of the Victorian innings, reducing them to 9-122.
Captain Brock Larance (2-20) and star allrounder D’Arcy Short (2-13) led the way for WA with the ball, and Dane Ugle (2-25) was also damaging with the ball.
After starring with the ball, Larance repeated the dose with bat in hand, blasting an unbeaten 83 off 50 balls, which included five four and seven sixes.
Larance was well supported by Bevan Bennell (22), as the pair put on 82 runs for the third wicket to wrestle momentum away from Victoria.
Bennell’s dismissal led to a middle order collapse of 3-3 and gave Victoria a glimmer of hope.
Larance was calm under pressure though and guided his side to the target with 23 balls to spare.
The title marked the third consecutive year WA had success at the Championships, with the men’s side winning in 2024, before the women’s side won the title for the first time in 2025.
The WA Women’s Aboriginal team’s title defence ended at the semi-final stage on Saturday, going down by nine wickets to New South Wales.
While the side didn’t make the Final, which was won by Victoria, they recorded two wins, one no result and one loss from their four group games.