A Travis Dean century gave Victoria a slight advantage after two days of the Sheffield Shield final against South Australia.
Dean batted for all but one hour of the second day, and his 111
helped Victoria reach stumps at 4-269, trailing South Australia’s
first-innings total of 340 by 71 at Glenelg’s Gliderol Stadium.
Dean combined with Peter Handscomb (79 not out) for a vital 140-run
third-wicket partnership before he edged Redbacks quick Elliot Opie
through to wicketkeeper Alex Carey with 10 overs left in the day.
South Australia struck again late on Sunday when paceman Daniel
Worrall swung one back to bowl Victorian captain Matthew Wade with the
second new ball.
They could have also had nightwatchman Scott Boland when Worrall had
him edging to gully in the second-last over, but the chance was dropped
by Sam Raphael.
He went to stumps unbeaten on five alongside Handscomb, but the star of the day remained Dean.
Circumspect at first with the wicket and low cloud cover offering
plenty to the South Australian seamers, Dean brought up his half-century
off 104 balls.
However, his second 50 came from just 64 deliveries, and he reached
his hundred by sweeping Travis Head behind square, one ball after
slog-sweeping him for six.
The increase in his scoring rate coincided with the arrival of the
attacking Handscomb with the match evenly poised at 2-105. Handscomb was
dominant off the back foot, cutting at will anything even slightly
short outside off-stump.
He survived a bizarre appeal for obstructing the field when he
whacked a ball thrown at the keeper’s stumps by bowler Head to the
midwicket fence.
Aside from that, the only other scare for Handscomb came from an
adjacent-looking lbw shout on four from Worrall, one of many that were
turned down early in the day.
Worrall (3-51) was South Australia’s best, claiming the scalps of
former Test batsman Rob Quiney for (23) and Marcus Stoinis (35) in the
opening two sessions.
Earlier, Victorian quick Chris Tremain (3-73) cleaned up the South
Australian tail in the first four overs of the day. Alex Ross (72),
wicketkeeper-batsman Carey (50) and rookie opener Jake Weatherald (66)
each hit half-centuries for the Redbacks.
:)
:(
hihi
:-)
:D
=D
:-d
;(
;-(
@-)
:P
:o
:>)
(o)
:p
:-?
(p)
:-s
(m)
8-)
:-t
:-b
b-(
:-#
=p~
$-)
(y)
(f)
x-)
(k)
(h)
cheer