WA sealed their 18th Defend title simply 10 minutes earlier than stumps in becoming trend when Joel Paris took a blinder of a catch at gully to set off scenes of jubilation on the discipline and in the terraces.
“We had been on a shot clock, we had been actually hoping to end it tonight,” Whiteman instructed reporters. “That remaining catch and that celebration… was simply a tremendous feeling that I will always remember.”
He changed Cameron Bancroft, arguably WA’s finest batter and the main Defend run scorer over the previous couple of seasons. Bancorft had been dominated out forward of the remaining after struggling concussion in a motorcycle accident final weekend.
“The best way somebody stood up after we actually wanted to all through the 12 months, it has been superb,” stated Whiteman, who was player-of-the-final together with his opening day century after WA had been despatched in to bat on a green-tinged floor. “Essentially the most pleasing half of it’s that it is usually another person who stepped up.
“We’ve had a tricky slog this 12 months with accidents and Australian choice. I am simply extremely proud of the group.”
Whiteman, now a three-time Defend-winning captain, believed the newest triumph was WA’s sweetest. Including to their legacy, they grew to become the first staff to win three titles in a row in the Defend and Marsh Cup concurrently.
WA gained their first hat-trick of Defend titles since their legendary staff of the late Nineteen Eighties, which boasted Terry Alderman, Tom Moody and Geoff Marsh.
“Personally, it’s [the sweetest title],” Whiteman stated. “It has to be one of the great WA Defend teams….and I believe with the one-day stuff we have to be one of the great WA teams. Hopefully there’s some extra success down the line.”
