Western Australia 244 and 119 for 6 (Inglis 45, Bancroft 42*, O’Neill 3-30) lead Victoria 144 (Brief 53, Gannon 5-42) by 219 runs
Victoria’s assault hit again towards Western Australia late on a dramatic day two because the combat for a spot within the Sheffield Shield final intensified.
In what has been a see-saw contest with a lot at stake, 15 wickets fell within the day’s play in robust batting circumstances at Junction Oval.
Inglis fell for 45 close to the shut, however Bancroft held agency with a gutsy unbeaten 42 off 151 balls to stretch WA’s result in 219 runs.
With top-placed Tasmania in a significant battle towards South Australia within the concurrent fixture, WA might leapfrog them with victory and clinch a house final beginning on March 21.
Tasmania have already secured a spot within the five-day decider and they’ll play both Victoria or WA, who solely want a draw to get by means of.
Victoria fought again properly after their batting order wilted to be bowled out in 43 overs as their bid for a 3rd straight final’s look nosedived.
Having missed spinning allrounder Ashton Agar, who has been unable to squeeze into the Shield line-up this season, WA have been vindicated with their quartet of seamers menacing on a green-tinged floor marked by widening divots.
WA have been ignited by a spectacular one-handed catch from wicketkeeper Inglis, who dove low to his left to take away Marcus Harris for 17. Paris then took over with the wickets of Campbell Kellaway and Peter Handscomb in successive overs.
Skipper Will Sutherland tried to play aggressively, however fell into a clumsy place to miss-hit a short-pitched Haskett supply to fine-leg. Perry’s 95-ball rearguard ended tamely when he hit Haskett straight to sq. leg as Victoria’s lower-order supplied little resistance.
With out injured frontline quicks Jhye Richardson, Lance Morris and Matt Kelly, WA’s deep tempo shares have been underlined by the sturdy performances of Gannon and Haskett, who mixed for eight wickets.
WA’s collapse continued when Perry had Aaron Hardie caught at second slip with a cracking supply that bounced sharply and formed away. However Inglis got here out firing after tea along with his finest shot being a belligerent pull shot to whack a brief supply from Scott Boland for six.
