New South Wales 252 (Edwards 99, Gilkes 51, Sutherland 5-51, Boland 3-47) and 116 for 8 (Konstas 35, Boland 5-41) drew with Victoria 454 for six dec (Pucovski 131, Handscomb 114, Maddinson 108, Lyon 5-153)
The thunderstorms that swept by Sydney on Monday denied Victoria an all-but sure Sheffield Defend victory over New South Wales with the house facet eight down when play was suspended after Scott Boland had claimed five of them.
A win would have put Victoria on high of the Defend ladder, however the gamers left the sphere about midday and didn’t return, with NSW 116 for 8 and needing one other 86 runs to make Victoria bat once more.
Tasmania now have a large house match against Victoria from March 1. NSW, who had turned their Defend marketing campaign round with three wins from their earlier 4 video games, stay within the closing hunt in fourth spot, behind Western Australia.
NSW resumed their second innings on 40 for 3 and Victoria snared five extra wickets before rain pressured an early lunch and in the end ended the match.
Boland, who will head throughout to New Zealand for the Check sequence later this month, starred with 5 for 41 and took eight wickets for the match. On the ultimate day he uprooted Moises Henriques’ leg stump, had Ollie Davies taken at second slip after which discovered the sting of top-scorer Sam Konstas.
His Australian team-mate Nathan Lyon performed a vital innings for NSW to carry Victoria at bay before the climate intervened. Lyon confronted 47 balls in robust situations to make an unbeaten 17. Mitch Perry struck twice however it wasn’t sufficient.
Regardless of going frustratingly near a win and high spot, there was a major spotlight out of the match for Victoria. Will Pucovski returned to the Defend crew and top-scored with 131 – his first ton within the competitors since November 2020.
