Fresh from winning one of the two divisions under which the competition was structured last season, Western Australia again underscored its depth by emerging as ACB Cup champion for 2000-01. Under the expanded format unveiled in 2000-01, the Sandgropers were narrowly defeated in their first match. But they failed to lose again and duly beat off a bunched field of challengers on their way to the title.
Just as important a feature of this summer's ACB Cup competition (which brought together the second XI teams from the six states as well as sides from the Australian Capital Territory and the Commonwealth Bank Cricket Academy) was its ability to identify a number of ready-made domestic cricketers. As many as eighty-two players who participated in the ACB Cup this summer also represented one of the six states at senior level.
Several of them went on to enjoy particularly successful seasons. Nathan Bracken was anointed Australia's Young Cricketer of the Year and won selection at one-day international level; no-one claimed more Pura Cup wickets in 2000-01 than Joe Dawes; bowlers Ashley Noffke and Michael Lewis starred with five wicket hauls for their respective states in the Pura Cup Final; and, along with Dawes and Noffke, Jerry Cassell, Clinton Perren and Brendan Nash were members of Queensland's Pura Cup winning team. There were others who made a big mark too and there will doubtless be even more in the future.
