Pink ball, white clothing

The three fixtures of the just completed penultimate round of Sheffield Shield matches were each played as day-night matches, using a pink ball though not coloured clothing.

This was not the first time such an experiment has been tried here. A decade or so ago I recall watching South Australia play Western Australia, though I believe they used a red ball. 

That experiment hasn't been repeated until now, when declining interest in and minute attendances at Sheffield Shield matches here and Tests elsewhere have encouraged another go. This time with a pink ball.

If all goes well (and it's not clear what the assessment criteria are) we may even see day-night Tests at some time in the future. 

Last night I went to the (almost complete, we're told) Adelaide Oval to watch the last session of the 

SA v NSW match. Unlike Australia at Cape Town overnight the Redbacks weren't able to take the final wicket which a would have given them an outright win and much needed points in their quest for a Shield final berth. After the Blues led by 4 on the first innings, they were unable to convert a second innings revival into victory.

This situation has echoes of last season, where a good Redbacks start was frittered away in the last couple of matches and the team, admittedly in a very tight competition slipped from Top of the table to last.

One more round remains, with an away match (not day-night) in Hobart. This year a Ricky Ponting-less Tasmania are not playing well, so an outright win is not impossible, but without Johan Botha - the best Redback bowler yesterday - suspended for a match (apparently subject to appeal/reviewe) it may be improbable.

South Australia 288 (Ferguson 97, Zampa 48, O'Keefe 5/89) & 280 (Cooper 89, Ferguson 59, Raphael 53, O'Keefe 6/70) drew with New South Wales 292 (Patterson 81, Nevill 71, Carters 65, Botha 4/70) & 9/207 (Carters 84, Botha 4/51): Sheffield Shield at Adelaide Oval. NSW 2 pts, SA 0.

<a href="http://www.espncricinfo.com/australia-domestic-2013-14/engine/match/669219.html">Scorecard </a>

Only T20, but at last a title for South Australia

South Australia 2 /155 (17.3 ov, C Borgas 62*, D Harris 48*) def New South Wales 8/153 (20 ov, D Smith 43, M Henriques 41, K Richardson 3-31) by 8 wickets: T20 Big Bash final at Adelaide Oval. SA won title.

On Offsiders today Gideon Haigh pooh-poohed both the T20 competition and South Australia but the fact remains that last night 27000+ (including me) turned up at Adelaide Oval hoping that the Redbacks wouldn't choke (as they'd done in the final last year). And they didn't.

Sure it's not the Sheffield Shield, but it is a type of cricket and does require some cricket-related skills. NSW started well, lost too many wickets in the latter part of their innings and then the captain Stuart Clark clutched at too many straws by using 7 bowlers in the first 13 overs, with varying - mostly modest - degrees of success. They took only two wickets as Daniel Harris 48/59b (2x6, 2x4) and Cameron Borgas 62/39b (2x6, 3x4) accelerated, particularly in overs 15 and 17 (no names no packdrill) to see the Redbacks easily home, to the relief (and. yes, delight of their supporters).

Now let's hope for some improved performances in the two other formats.

Scorecard

Fox Sports report inc link to video highlights.

Interstate roundup: NSW falter briefly but eventually triumph

Today was hot in Adelaide - the temperature reached 32 degrees- as was the batting of Simon Katich and Dominic Thornely who took their team to a convincing 7 wicket victory over SA.

The Redbacks now are confirmed as favourites to retain the four day (Pura Cup ex Sheffield Shield) wooden spoon.

Scorecard

In the other fixtures Victoria defeated Tasmania and Western Australia defeated Queensland each by an innings.

Redbacks win a game at last

It took them until the last ball but South Australia did defeat NSW by 5 wickets tonight at the Adelaide Oval.

I was there for two periods of play: the middle overs of the NSW, and the middle and final overs of the SA, innings. The Blues batted relatively slowly against a tight Redbacks attack. Even if the wicket was less batter-friendly than usual it did not require great prescience to predict that 7/233 would be a winning score.

And so it proved, though the Redbacks middle order made heavy work of scraping the last few runs after Matthew Elliott (83/113b) and Darren Lehmann (a quickfire 34/32b including a magnificent flat batted pull shot for 6) had set up victory. Nathan Bracken bowled magnificently in the last few overs while Stephen O'Keefe, Nathan Hauritz and Doug Bollinger held the Redbacks in check for most of their respective spells. Unusually for a limited overs game, the run rate really slowed in the last few overs as the Redbacks took their time to get not only the run levelling the scores but also the winning one.

Scorecard.

Congratulations Tasmania: well deserved winners of Pura Cup

Tasmania, which had progressively strengthened its hold on the game over the preceding two days, today administered the coup de grace to New South Wales and deservedly won its first ever Pura Cup/ Sheffield Shield at the 25th attempt. The Blues lost two early wickets, including that of Phil Jaques, and thereafter didn't offer much resistance, particularly to Ben Hilfenhaus (4/22) and Damien Wright's(5/13) bowling, and were all out for 149, leaving the Tigers victors by a massive 421 runs.

Congratulations Tasmania!

Scorecard.

Tasmania deservedly within sight of trophy: Pura Cup final Day 4

Today Tasmania exceeded perhaps even its own expectations and worked itself into a position from where it is inconceivable that it will lose, and quite likely that it will win, against New South Wales. The other possibility, a draw, will also deservedly give it the Pura Cup/ Sheffield Shield for the first time, a considerable achievement for the state team with the smallest player pool (which has also produced the current best batter in world cricket).

Overnight Tasmania were 6/203, a lead of 313. As I said yesterday, they were on top but not home and hosed. Today it took the NSW bowlers almost all day to take the last four wickets, and in doing so conceded another 257 runs.

The heroes were the same three who had pulled the first innings up by its bootstraps: Luke Butterworth, not content with his first innings maiden fifty, topped that with 106, his maiden century; Sean Clingleffer who made his first century for several seasons; and Damien Wright, a valuable 47 which took his match aggregate beyond a hundred.

The match has been well supported by the locals: more than 14,000 attended the first three days. I won't be surprised if that number is exceeded tomorrow, when NSW 0/3 after one over tonight, try to bat out the 90 (why not 96?) overs remaining.

A comment on online coverage.

Despite what I've said before, Cricket Australia's commentary doesn't hold a candle to Cricinfo's.
Compare how each described the first over of Tasmania's second innings.

Cricket Australia

2007-03-21 11:06:56	Over 0.2: Bollinger to Paine: FOUR! driven square of the wicket, off the mark with a lovely shot
2007-03-21 11:05:05	A bit of a delay as the Blues are waiting to see who will take strike, it's Paine so Bollinger grabs the ball

[When play is in progress the last five overs are shown in scorebook format, ie for this over .4...; once play stops so do the details.]


Cricinfo

0.1	Bollinger to Paine, no run, left outside off
0.2	Bollinger to Paine, FOUR, shot, positive cricket from the out-of-form Paine, not going to shoulder arms this innings, he blasts a cover drive away for confidence-building funs. And runs
0.3	Bollinger to Paine, no run, left
0.4	Bollinger to Paine, no run
0.5	Bollinger to Paine, no run
0.6	Bollinger to Paine, no run, bouncer, under it ... well navigated by Paine
End of over 1 (4 runs) - Tasmania 4/0 TD Paine 4* (6b 1x4) DE Bollinger 1-0-4-0 MJ Di Venuto 0* (0b)

Cricinfo's commentary is a bit quirky for some tastes perhaps, but it gives more details not only of each ball and also summarises each day and session using its well established house style.

Tasmania in the better, but still not winning, position: Pura Cup final Day 3

At the end of the third day's play of a hard fought Pura Cup final Tasmania (340 and 6/203) lead NSW (230) by 313 runs with 4 wickets in hand. On paper this gives them the advantage, but they'll be looking, especially after NSW's second innings revival in the previous match at Hobart, to extend their lead as far as possible. 350 would be good, 400 better.

Scorecard.

Advantage Tasmania: Pura Cup final Day 2

On Day 2 of the final, Tasmania's bowlers pulled NSW back after they reached 137 for the loss of only two wickets. Domenic Thornely was out at that point for a watchful 41. From there the Blues found it hard to survive against the Tigers' pace attack. They finished the day on 8/207, a long way short of being competitive, but , as the last game between the two sides showed, too early to write them off completely.

Scorecard.

Tasmania struggle but are revived by lower order: Pura Cup final Day 1

At Hobart today Tasmania won the toss, batted, collapsed to 5/90 in the face of some hostile NSW pace bowling, especially from Doug Bollinger, who took his first ever first class five wicket haul (which, as I was impressed with his bowling against SA earlier in the season, comes as a surprise to me).

Fortunately for at least the short term aspirations of the Tasmanians, their middle and lower order batting effected a revival of sorts, but Damien Wright (57 no ) and Luke Butterworth (40 no) will need to add more to their current 96 run partnership, and also to bowl well if the Blues are not to run rampant in the remaining four days (or as long as it takes to achieve a result).

Scorecard.

Gripe: Cricket Australia's online "live" commentary was very poor, with only occasional balls (like one every two or three overs) being described. To check it out (if you're so inclined) follow the links from here.

Tasmania v NSW final

The last first class match of Australian season 2006-2007, the Pura Cup final between Tasmania and NSW, begins tomorrow in Hobart.

According to Cricket Australia's preview the bookmakers have Tasmania favourites to win the trophy, probably because (1) a draw will suffice (there are no points for a first innings win), (2) Tasmania defeated the Blues last week, (3) Tasmania's form this season has been outstanding and (4) the match is being played at Hobart.

That said, both Cricket Australia and Cricinfo suggest some reasons why NSW is unlikely to go down without a fight, including (1) they have a solid tradition of success behind them, including success in finals played away from home, (2) they have better players, as exemplified by their four ( effectively three as Brad Haddin is in the World Cup squad), as opposed to the Tigers' one, reps in the ACA Pura Cup team of the season and (3) a suggestion that the Tigers might, as has happened on the three previous occasions when they've contested finals, be overawed by the situation and play below their best.

I've just looked at the Hobart forecast for the next few days: there is some chance of rain which, if it eventuates, will help Tasmania's cause by delaying matters. The Tigers will be the sentimental favourites, and rightly so, yet all but the youngest Australian cricket followers will remember how long it took for Queensland, despite fielding very strong teams, to break through and win the Sheffield Shield for the first time. I think that Tasmania should win because they've played consistently well throughout the year.

PS Apart from the Fox Sports TV direct broadcast a streamed radio commentary provided by the ABC will be available online through Cricket Australia's website http://cricket.com.au.