21/22 Shield Thread

It was quite a slog for the Blues bowlers. But a timely ton by Bancroft. He has been consistent up till this year. Has a super 20/21.
Yes La Nina is not quite finished with the Eastern Seaboard tho will are having lite showers instead of torrential downpours. As far as I know drainage at Bankstown Oval has been upgraded. So hopefully very few stoppages.

Tassie batted well. Did not watch any play.. how was the deck. Going on the scoring rate batting must not have been all that easy. A good knock from the red ball imroving Ben McDermott. A patient effort and was unlucky not to post his century.
 
Tasmania were bowled out for 355 on day two in their match against Victoria, Jon Holland claimed 4/82 with Todd Murphy snaring career best figures of 4/98. Tom Andrews made 39 with the tail wagging to boost the Tigers over the 350 mark. Victoria are 4/210 at stumps, led by Travis Dean's 103 not out while Sam Harper is 42 not out with those two adding exactly 100 before stumps were called.

There was no play between NSW and WA on day two due to rain with Sydney's rubbish weather continuing. Days three and four are set to consist of 112 overs per day to make up for time lost on day two.
 
Sun is shining in Sydney today so we will have a resumption of the Warriors/Blues match after yesterday's complete washout.. A lot of time to make up so play will start early and likely end later. Current score is Warriors 3/231 so the Blues bowlers have a lot of work on their hands to stop that score from blowing out.
 
I think it is time for Trent Copeland to put away his ball permanently. He just does not take wickets or build pressure anymore. You watch he'll come out and blitz a 5for today. What an ugly colored track at Bankstown. Hard to tell just how much grass is on the surface.
 
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Jason Sangha keeping Blues hopes alive. He needed someone to stay with him and Chris Tremain did. Sangha is close to a breakout season imo. Looks more confident at the crease. His defense is rock solid and he is now showing maturity. I wonder how much being made stand in captain in an earlier match has made on him psychologically.
Tremmers meanwhile is averaging more than some top 6 batsmen this season while his bowling is back to top shelf. Seems his move back home has reinvigorated the Dubbo boy..
 
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Victoria declared at 7/334 in their first innings, trailing by 21 runs. Travis Dean was eventually dismissed for 146 while Sam Harper made 93. Tasmania's spinners in Tom Andrews (2/53) and Ben Manenti (2/101) who is on debut led the attack for the Tigers.

In reply, Tasmania are 7/170 at stumps, leading by 191 runs. Matthew Wade scored 50 but was dismissed not long after making his half century while Tom Andrews made 40 to lift the Tigers. Jordan Silk is 22 not out with a lot resting on his shoulders in order for Tasmania to set a decent target for the Vics. Todd Murphy has led the way again for Victoria with 3/43 while Mitch Perry snared 2/18.

In the other match, WA declared at 6/356 with Hilton Cartwright making 81. Jack Edwards was NSW's best bowler with 3/53. In reply, NSW are 7/165, the Blues slipped to 6/56 courtesy of Matt Kelly's three wickets but Jason Sangha's 66 not out combined with Chris Tremain's knock of 41 not out has helped the Blues recover. WA will be chasing quick wickets tomorrow in the hope of possibly enforcing the follow-on with another 112 overs to possibly be bowled.
 
What can I say about the Blues batting. I think it is summed up by skipper Patterson leaving a delivery on a direct stump line. Plumb as they come. Some batsmen sit comfortably with the added burden of captaincy. I dont think Patterson is one of them. It will be up to him and veteran Hughes to save this match when WA enforce the follow on. But perhaps the evolving Jason Sangha and his partner in crime Chris Tremain will avoid the dreaded follow on by batting thru the morning. Weather wise the arvo is looking a bit wet as La Nina is not entirely done with Sydney just yet so all this may be only be a moot point with a drawn game on the cards. Losing an entire day without the addition of a reserve day has to change. DRS also needs to be introduced to Shield cricket.
 
Tasmania were bowled out for 209 in their second innings, Jordan Silk scored 42 while Mitch Perry finished with 4/31 to help clean up the tail, leaving Victoria chasing 231 for victory.

Victoria got off to a good start courtesy of Travis Dean and James Seymour but Dean's dismissal for 47 signalled a collapse of 6/77 to leave Victoria at 6/151 when Sam Harper was out for 8 and then 7/161 after James Pattinson edged to slip off Ben Manenti for six runs. A handy stand of 26 between Will Sutherland and Mitch Perry followed before Sutherland edged to second slip off Peter Siddle for 14, leaving Victoria with 44 runs needed with two wickets in hand. However, that brought Todd Murphy to the crease and he and Perry combined to get Victoria home, reaching the target of 231 with 8/234 and 7.2 overs to spare. Travis Dean was Player of the Match for his innings of 146 and 47.

The other game between NSW and WA came down to whether WA could enforce the follow on or not with the Blues progressing to 7/202, needing just five runs to avoid being asked to bat again. However, Jason Sangha fell to Joel Paris for 86 and Chris Tremain was dismissed for 58 to leave NSW 9/206, needing one more run to avoid the follow on. In the end, the Blues managed two more runs to be bowled out for 208, 148 behind WA's first innings after soaking up 21.1 overs in the morning session.

WA began their second innings with regular wickets, reaching 4/75 before declaring as both teams opted to call the game a draw. Sam Whiteman remained 27 not out while Tremain claimed 2/12 in the second innings. Player of the Match went to Cameron Bancroft for his first innings century of 117.
 
The ladder at the moment has Victoria on top with the superior points average with WA second and NSW third. Queensland are fourth with Tasmania slipping to fifth while South Australia are in last spot. Realistically five teams can still make the final at this point of the season with one round to go.

The last round begins on Wednesday 23 March with Tasmania taking on Queensland at Bellerive Oval, South Australia face New South Wales at Karen Rolton Oval in Adelaide while Western Australia host Victoria at the WACA, the first game of cricket hosted in Perth for some four months.
 
Up to the Blues to see SA become consecutive wooden spooners, tho it is anyones match as it is being played on the Karen Rolton motorway. The three teams with the least matches this year are the three current front runners. Go figure. Bulls inexplicably given nine matches are cutting it fine if they are to defend their title.
 
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Not sure it is worth making a separate thread only for this one story.
Who else is aware that there may be a concerted effort by our cricket bosses to deliberately erode red ball cricket from the nation-wide Premier Cricket program. At least that appears the case in at least two states. I was shocked when I saw the New South PC draw for this year. Where were all the two day red ball matches. From Nov until Feb 12 CNSW had scheduled only 50 over cricket . All 12 matches. Since then it has generously (or guilt) tacked on three red ball games to end the season. As if it is not sufficiently bad here in my state, Victoria is worse off as their entire16 match season has been white ball. Not certain of this but it looks as tho Premier underage u15/17 red ball has also been cut to a bare minimum in the three states that have it.. WA, SA and TAS. Second X1 cricket has also been savaged. This is the tier closest to shield. Dont use the excuse this has happened due to Covid as cricket is still being played.. tho not the pure format. I hope this is only the two states mentioned and not others too. Our elite red ball cricketers hone their skills in club cricket so cutting red ball from the program is unconscionable.
 
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I'm not overly concerned by the increasing number of white-ball matches in fixturing this season as COVID-19 has heavily impacted the past three seasons across the country in one form or another and I feel that this was done to ensure that some sort of cricket was able to be played. WA's season was cut short here by up to four weeks in some competitions to enable all associations to complete their various leagues with a finals series as a result of the hard border being lifted.

Given the entire country is now learning to live with the virus, I would expect things to return more to how they were before the virus hit, at least the "new normal" going forward. I would expect that each state would incorporate more red ball cricket into their relevant premier cricket competitions at both senior and junior level along with CA holding a full double-round robin Sheffield Shield and also a number of Second XI matches.

If this doesn't materialise, then questions should be asked.
 
This is a great article on a Sheffield Shield match almost 20 years ago between Victoria and Western Australia at the MCG. It details the best comeback ever in a Shield game in the competition's history. A very good read I must say. :thumbsu:

 
Bulls rolled by an innings in two days by Tassie.

Blues knocked out of the final race even if they win their match..

WA in the box seat over at the WACA.
 
Tasmania romped to an innings win against Queensland. The Tigers won the toss and chose to bowl, rolling Queensland for 104 in their first innings, Sam Rainbird took a Tasmanian Sheffield Shield record 8/21 in the first innings as the Bulls only managed to make just over 100. Tasmania made 422 in reply with Beau Webster smashing 166 not out to try to give Tasmania a shot at making the final with wicketkeeper Jake Doran chiming in with 72. Blake Edwards and Gurinder Sandhu both took three wickets for the Bulls to lead their attack. In reply, Queensland were bowled out cheaply again, this time for 87 with Sam Rainbird again the destroyer with 5/21 as he claimed an outrageous 13/42 for the match which is the best bowling figures in a match for a Tasmanian bowler. The Bulls lost 9.41 to slump to an innings and 231 runs inside two days with Rainbird claiming the Player of the Match award.

After day two, South Australia are 5/219, chasing New South Wales' first innings total of 297. The Blues were anchored by Jason Sangha's 142 as he was the last man out scoring almost half his side's score. Jordan Buckingham snared 4/79 on debut to lead the Redbacks while Brendan Doggett claimed 3/58. SA trail by 78 runs with two days to play, Henry Hunt has led the way for the Redbacks with an undefeated 107 with Harry Neilsen remaining 52 not out with the pair having added 121 for the sixth wicket. Trent Copeland has 2/40 from 18 overs for the Blues to be the best of the NSW bowlers.

In the last match between Western Australia and Victoria has Victoria 5/82 at stumps on day two after being bowled out for 114 on day one. All-rounder Aaron Hardie ran through Victoria's top order on the opening day, claiming 4/24 and a run out as Victoria were dismissed inside 44 overs. Western Australia responded with 337 in their first innings, Hilton Cartwright continued his good form with an innings of 109 with Sam Whiteman made a relatively brisk 63. 17 year old debutant Teague Wyliie didn't look out of place either, making 42 in a 103 run partnership with Cartwright. Will Sutherland was Victoria's best with the ball, finishing with 3/67 while James Pattinson claimed 3/96. Victoria are 5/82 in their second innings, still trailing by 141 runs. Joel Paris has two wickets for WA with his second the wicket of Jake Fraser-McGruk late in the day.
 
Last five innings by Jason Sangha.. 3, 75, 86, 142, 62. Appears the kid is now maturing. His patient century was a good as you will see and even more so as it is in his first game as captain. Tipping Jason will probably have a breakout season over nest two years and push his claims for Test cricket. Cartwright in the sort of form that saw him play Test cricket in 2017. Tasmanian lefty Sam Rainbird added five more wickets to his first innings 8. A Tasmanian record. I believe Aaron Hardie will play for Australia in some format. Everything points to a Warriors/TAS final with the West Aussies playing host. That means we in the east will have to wait half of our day before play starts in the west.
 
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Day three commenced with the other two matches that were still in progress. South Australia started the day at 5/219 and progressed to 9/277 before sneakily declaring, meaning NSW could not claim the final 0.10 bonus points on offer for taking 10 wickets inside the first 100 overs of SA's first innings (the Redbacks declared after facing 98 overs). Henry Hunt top scored with 109 for the Redbacks, Harry Neilsen chimed in with 63 while Chris Tremain and Trent Copeland both claimed three wickets for the Blues. NSW have since made sound progress since, reaching 4/235, a lead of 252 runs. Jason Sangha continued his good run of form with 62, debutant Blake Nikitaras compiled 56 while Matthew Gilkes made 54. Nathan McSweeney took 2/71 to be SA's best bowler thus far.

The match between WA and Victoria saw the Vics start the third day on 5/82, still 141 runs behind WA's first innings total. Due to WA scoring more then 300 runs on day two, it meant that WA only needed to draw the game with Victoria to make the Shield final while a win would see them host the final. Nightwatchman Mitch Perry fell early on day two to leave Victoria at 6/86 and the dismissal of Matthew Short just before lunch left Victoria with three wickets in hand at 7/137, still 90 runs behind. In the end, the final few wickets fell quickly after lunch with Victoria bowled out for 172 as Western Australia won by an innings and 51 runs. Lance Morris claimed 4/55 to lead WA's attack while Joel Paris finished with second innings figures of 3/31. Player of the Match was Hilton Cartwright for his innings of 109 for WA.

What that means is that WA will host the Shield final against Victoria at the WACA starting on Thursday, 31 March. The match will be a five day game and will be broadcast by Australian subscription television service Foxtel, its streaming subscription service Kayo and also on cricket.com.au.
 
WA will host the Shield final against Victoria at the WACA
Dont you mean Tasmania. Victoria copped an innings hiding. Losing those early games killed the Blues hopes But we may finish with a win over wooden spooners SA.
 
Lachlan Hearne top scores with 65. Blues set SA 325 to win from 82 overs. A sporting declaration as this is now more a batting pitch.
 
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