Poor weather prevents thrilling finish in Sydney

The Pura Cup match between New South Wales and South Australia at the SCG ended today in a draw due to bad light, preventing what would have been an engaging conclusion.

Chasing 294 to claim victory, the Blues battled their way to 5-190, before deteriorating light prematurely forced a close of the game at approximately 4:33pm local time.

Phil Jaques backed up his 163 in the first innings with a solid 79, earning him man-of-the-match honours, and further reinforced his Ashes aspirations.

New South Wales resumed the final day on 0-13 - 281 runs in arrears - and made a good fist of the overcast conditions early, as Greg Mail and Jaques pushed the score onto 63 without loss.

However, Mail (27) became the first of Cullen Bailey’s two scalps in the first session when he was caught at first slip by Daniel Harris, while Ed Cowan (8) was caught by Mark Cosgrove on the final ball before lunch at 2-91.

Momentum quickly shifted back into the Blues favour as Jaques and Dominic Thornely pushed the score onto 145, before the Redbacks claimed 3-19 in 9.3 overs to halt their progress.

Thornely (35no) and Moises Henriques (13no) provided strong resistance, and after an initial delay due to rain at 2:56pm, play then resumed for 45 minutes, before play inevitably came to a final close.

Leg-spinner Bailey, who opened the bowling late on day three, finished with best figures for South Australia (2-56 off 23), while Shaun Tait, Paul Rofe and Darren Lehmann each grabbed a wicket each.

Resuming their first innings on day three at 4-277, trailing the Redbacks’ declared first innings total of 9-399 by 122 runs, the Blues lost 6-27 to be skittled for 304, following a devastating morning-session spell of 3-1 by Tait.

After the visitors pushed their way to 3-43 by lunch, following a first session that collectively saw nine wickets lost for 70 runs, a Shane Deitz half-century and a solid 43 by Mark Cosgrove was the only resistance against a fiery New South Wales attack.

Doug Bollinger (4-55) and Stuart MacGill (4-46) headed the carnage, as the Blues dismissed South Australia for 198.

South Australia first innings 9d-399

New South Wales first innings
G MAIL c Deitz b Tait 7
P JAQUES run out (Lehmann) 163
E COWAN c Harris b Adcock 49
D THORNELY c Deitz b Adcock 40
A O’BRIEN c Harris b Adcock 9
B HADDIN not out 11
M HENRIQUES b Tait 8
B CASSON lbw b Tait 0
M NICHOLSON c Harris b Tait 0
D BOLLINGER c Rofe b Bailey 3
S MACGILL c Adcock b Bailey 0

Extras (3b, 3lb, 6nb, 2wd) 14
Total (all out) 304

Fall: 1-8, 2-130, 3-249, 4-277, 5-278, 6-294, 7-295, 8-295, 9-304, 10-304

Bowling: S Tait 18-2-70-4 (6nb, 2wd), J Gillespie 13-1-41-0, P Rofe 12-2-53-0, C Bailey 21.2-84-2, N Adcock 13-2-41-3, D Lehmann 3-0-9-0

Batting time: 320 mins. Overs: 80.2

South Australia second innings
D HARRIS c Jaques b Bollinger 9
N ADCOCK c Haddin b Bollinger 13
C BORGAS c Haddin b Bollinger 0
M COSGROVE b MacGill 43
C FERGUSON c Haddin b Bollinger 22
D LEHMANN c Thornely b Nicholson 26
S DEITZ c Henriques b O’Brien 50
C BAILEY c Mail b MacGill 25
J GILLESPIE c O’Brien b MacGill 0
P ROFE c Haddin b MacGill 0
S TAIT not out 1

Extras (3lb, 5nb, 1wd) 9
Total (all out) 198

Fall: 1-17, 2-17, 3-33, 4-68, 5-102, 6-129, 7-191, 8-197, 9-197, 10-198

Bowling: M Nicholson 15-4-27-1 (2nb, 1wd), D Bollinger 14-1-55-4 (2nb), A O’Brien 12.5-1-46-4 (1nb), B Casson 5-1-9-0

Batting time: 267 mins. Overs: 71.5

New South Wales second innings (target: 294)
G MAIL c Harris b Bailey 27
P JAQUES c Deitz b Lehmann 79
E COWAN c Cosgrove b Bailey 8
D THORNELY not out 35
B HADDIN b Rofe 2
A O’BRIEN c Adcock b Tait 10
M HENRIQUES not out 13

Extras (10b, 3lb, 3wd) 16
Total (for 5 wickets) 190

Fall: 1-63, 2-91, 3-145, 4-148, 5-164

Bowling: S Tait 13.3-4-39-1 (3wd), C Bailey 23-4-56-2, N Adcock 15-2-31-0, J Gillespie 10-0-25-0, P Rofe 12-3-19-1, D Lehmann 3-0-7-0

Batting time: 303 mins. Overs: 76.3

12th Men: S Coyte (NSW) and G Putland (SA)
Umpires: P Parker (QLD) and R Tucker (NSW)
Toss: South Australia
Venue: Sydney Cricket Ground
MOTM: P Jaques (NSW)
Match Drawn

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