Western Australia are 5-158 in reply to NSW’s first innings of 345 all out at stumps on day two of the Bupa Sheffield Shield match at the Newcastle No.1 Sportsground (February 26).
Adam Voges is not out on 35 with Sam Whiteman on two.
Stephen O’Keefe (1-25), Nathan Lyon (1-32) and Gurinder Sandhu (1-29) are the wicket takers for NSW, with Kurtis Patterson credited with two run outs.
In an effort to make up time lost on day one, both the first and second sessions of day two were extended by 30 minutes with play commencing early at 10am.
Resuming on 8-169, NSW lost Stephen O’Keefe (21) early before a 116 run eighth wicket partnership between Gurinder Sandhu and Peter Nevill helped NSW past the 300 run mark.
Sandhu was the main aggressor in the partnership, striking a fierce 77 runs (his highest First Class score) with three massive sixes and five fours.
His knock ended half-an-hour before lunch when a short ball from Andrew Tye resulted in a catch in the slips.
While Sandhu produced the fireworks, Nevill quietly and efficiently went about his work.
His reward came shortly before lunch when he leg-glanced for three runs to bring up his second century of the summer.
NSW were bowled out for 345 early in the second session when Nevill was caught in the slips for 112, with Doug Bollinger (4) dismissed in a similar fashion soon after.
The Blues claimed an early wicket in the field when Cameron Bancroft (13) was caught behind by Peter Nevill from the bowling of Gurinder Sandhu.
Marcus Harris and Michael Klinger then combined for a 79 run second wicket stand, which only ended when Harris mis-judged a quick single and was run out by Kurtis Patterson at the bowler’s end for 46.
Klinger suffered the same fate a few overs later, with Patterson again throwing down the stumps to remove the in-form number three batsman for 38.
Adam Voges and Shaun Marsh looked like they would take Western Australia to stumps with no further loss, however NSW spinners Nathan Lyon and Stephen O’Keefe intervened to snare the wickets of Marsh (16) and nightwatchman Nathan Rimmington (1) respectively just before stumps.
