NECK AND NECK
TASSIE V VICTORIA
TASMANIA and Victoria are neck-and-neck in their race for a spot in the Sheffield Shield final after a topsy-turvy opening day at Blundstone Arena yesterday. The Tigers finished on 7-304 at stumps after losing the toss. The winner will book a place in the shield decider against Queensland from March 23.
THE battle to reach the Sheffield Shield final is set for a grandstand finish after both Tasmania and Victoria failed to grab the ascendancy on a fluctuating opening day at Blundstone Arena.
With second spot and a place in the final against Queensland on the line, both sides were left ruing opportunities to take the clash by the throat in a wildly swinging day of fortunes.
The man who captained Victoria to the first two victories of its Sheffield Shield treble, Matthew Wade, looked set to put the Tigers in front at stumps, but when he hooked Chris Tremain (4-64) to deep square taking on the long boundary 10 minutes before stumps it left the hosts 7-304 at the close.
Wade, who missed last year’s triumph with the Bushrangers because of international duties before returning home in the off-season for family reasons, was one of the six batsmen who perished for double figures who failed to turn their starts into a big score.
Opener Jordan Silk (55) and talented youngster Jake Doran (57) both passed their half-centuries only to fall shortly after, while Beau Webster (40) also looked set before chasing a wide Dan Christian delivery not long after lunch.
However the visitors were unable to open the game up with the ball after skipper Aaron Finch won the toss and decided to bowl.
Tasmania has increased its lead in second spot on the shield “live ladder” to 0.52 by edging ahead in bonus points.
But Victoria has proven to be the dominant state in batting bonus points in 2017-18 and with dynamic strokemakers such as Glenn Maxwell, Aaron Finch, Cameron White and Christian, is capable of rattling off runs at a rapid rate.
“We got sent in, that suggests they thought the wicket was going to do a little bit, we got in a really strong position then lost a couple of quick wickets,” Wade said.
“I think it is evenly poised, we would have taken 304 at the start of the day’s play.
“It would have been nice to be six or five down, but that’s the game. It [the pitch] is certainly not doing as much as it has done the first few games we played here, but the second new ball they bowled really well and there was enough swing and seam.”
Tremain, who removed both Silk and Doran before claiming another two key scalps with the second new ball, felt the Bushrangers didn’t fully capitalise early but hit back after lunch.
“I think you could be happy in both camps, we did sum up it was going to be a pretty good wicket, it was a little slow early on but 7-300, we are happy with the wickets and I’m sure they are happy with the runs,” Tremain said.
“It was a little bit slower than we thought, a little tackier but we probably didn’t capitalise in that first hour like we hoped we would.
“But we came back with a little flurry late in the day that evened things out.”