A TRIP to Perth for the WACA State Twenty/20 competition ended in disaster with classy all rounder Shane Tobin suffering a broken hand as the Esperance Cricket Association slumped to a 70-run loss to Claremont-Nedlands on Sunday.

Unable to bat or bowl due to the injury Tobin confirmed that he had suffered a broken hand with the classy all rounder set to be sidelined for up to six weeks, putting doubt on his fitness for the remainder of the 2009-10 RAC Cup season.

Having lost the toss Esperance were under pressure from the start as Claremont-Nedlands made a flyer with a 74-run partnership for the first wicket, after a good catch by Kyle stone off the bowling of Clancy Wheeler.

But runs continued to flow as the Esperance attack struggled to break through, allowing the Claremont-Nedlands top order to add a combined total of 108 runs.

Despite some wayward bowling, that included 19 wides, Esperance refused to lay down and with Leon Stone 3/25 and Kyle Stone 2/33 the Association side was able to snare the final seven wickets for just 29 runs, leaving a 162-run chase for victory.

The absence of Tobin did little to boost the teams batting morale while the early departure of Clancy Wheeler (1) left Esperance firmly on the back foot.

Peter Evans (14) showed that the side would not go down without a fight while Gary Walter was unlucky, run out for 23 runs.

Jordan Whiting also made a stand managing a valuable 22 runs before Esperance faltered, losing their last five wickets for just 13 runs, bowled out for 91 runs in the 18th over.