Victoria with upper hand

A five-wicket haul by Shane Warne and an unbeaten half-century by Nick Jewell has helped Victoria to a lead of 304 runs against South Australia at stumps on day three of the Pura Cup match in Adelaide today.

Warne’s 5-103 helped the Bushrangers to a 103-run first innings advantage after knocking over the Redbacks for 282, despite Darren Lehmann’s defiant unbeaten century, while Jewell (93no) propelled the visitors to 4-201 in their second innings at the close of play.

Lehmann, in scoring his 44th Sheffield Shield/Pura Cup ton, notched up 25,000 runs in first-class cricket yesterday evening.

With one day remaining in the match, Victoria is poised to declare early tomorrow morning with a lead in the vicinity of 350, as both teams seek to claim their first outright victory for the four-day season.

The home side resumed the third day at 5-197, 188 runs behind, and despite Lehmann adding 61 to his overnight score of 75, the South Australian captain was left stranded on 136 as the support at the opposite end inevitably deteriorated.

Although Lehmann’s innings wasn’t one that emulated some of his more stylishness and elegant knocks, the former Australian Test player rode his luck - dropped twice and survived enormous leg-before-wicket and caught behind appeals on 99 and 104 respectively - to ensure his team passed the follow on.

Warne claimed 3-38 from his marathon spell of 18 successive overs for the day, helping Victoria claim 5-85 in 36.3 overs in the first and second sessions to dismiss the Redbacks over 100 runs short of the Bushrangers’ declared first innings total of 6-385.

Andrew McDonald backed up his highest first class score of 88 with the bat in the first innings with respectable figures of 3-59 from 24.3 overs with the cherry.

Opener Lloyd Mash (10) was an early casualty as the Bushrangers endeavoured to develop a sizable target to defend, but Jewell and Brad Hodge were unfazed by a South Australian attack unable to derive anything from a waring pitch.

The pair shared in a partnership of 91 that displayed flair and sheer nonchalance, before Hodge (45) top-edged Cullen Bailey to Matthew Elliott at first slip at 2-125.

David Hussey’s aspiration for runs at a rapid-rate paved the way to his downfall when he was caught behind off Bailey for 15 at 3-147, while Cameron White (14) hit the young spinner for six in his final over for the day, before top-edging the next ball to Shaun Tait waiting at leg gully with the score on 4-187.

Although he was the primary source of the visitor’s runs, Bailey has been the only multiple wicket-taker in the innings with 3-87 from 21 overs.

Victoria - First Innings - 6 for 385 dec.

South Australia - First Innings
M ELLIOTT c Crosthwaite b McDonald 19
S DEITZ c Crosthwaite b Denton 23
C BORGAS b Warne 66
M COSGROVE c & b Warne 5
C FERGUSON c & b White 6
D LEHMANN not out 136
G MANOU c White b Warne 3
C BAILEY lbw b Warne 14
J GILLESPIE b McDonald 0
P ROFE lbw b Warne 6
S TAIT c Crosthwaite b McDonald 0

Sundries (3lb, 1wd) 4
Total (all out) 282

Fall: 1-33, 2-50, 3-63, 4-70, 5-191, 6-209, 7-245, 8-250, 9-273, 10-282

Bowling: M Lewis 17-3-36-0 (1wd), G Denton 16-1-54-1, A McDonald 24.3-6-59-3, S Warne 35-4-103-5, C White 2-0-3-1, J Moss 6-0-24-0

Innings time: 412 mins. Overs: 100.3

Victoria - Second Innings
N JEWELL not out 93
L MASH lbw b Rofe 10
B HODGE c Elliott b Bailey 45
D HUSSEY c Manou b Bailey 15
C WHITE c Tait b Bailey 22
J MOSS not out 2

Sundries (3b, 1lb, 5nb, 5wd) 14
Total (for 4 wickets) 201

Fall: 1-34, 2-125, 3-147, 4-187

Bowling: S Tait 9-0-44-0 (4nb, 5wd), J Gillespie 10-1-26-0 (1nb), P Rofe 8-0-25-1, C Bailey 21-0-87-3, D Lehmann 9-0-15-0

Innings time: 207 mins. Overs: 57

12th Men: D Harris (SA), C McKay (Vic)
Toss: Victoria
Umpires: S Fry, P Parker
Venue: Adelaide Oval

Stumps Day Three

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