The NSW Blues have secured their third straight victory in the Bupa Sheffield Shield, beating Victoria by 156 runs in three days at Wagga Wagga’s Robertson Oval.
Nathan Lyon (4-63) and Stephen O’Keefe (4-40) took advantage of spin friendly conditions on day three, leading the attack in the final innings as the Bushrangers were bowled out for 169.
Earlier, NSW commenced the day at 8-212 with Lyon and Steve O’Keefe resuming.
O’Keefe hit some solid boundaries, getting to 29 before he was out caught by Rob Quiney off Peter Siddle (2-47).
Lyon (9no) batted through the wickets of Gurinder Sandhu (1) and Doug Bollinger (4) as NSW were bowled out for 233, setting Victoria 325 to win.
After giving the pacemen the new ball in the final innings, NSW Captain Moises Henriques brought Lyon into the attack early and it didn’t take long for him to strike.
He had Australian Test team-mate Chris Rogers bowled, attempting to sweep for 10, and then picked up Rob Quiney (20) in the same fashion shortly after.
Lyon then had Marcus Stoinis playing and missing, with Peter Nevill seizing the opportunity to remove the Victorian number three’s bails and have him back in the sheds for five.
Cameron White and Handscomb combined for 60 runs before White was out caught behind off Gurinder Sandhu’s (1-15) bowling.
Matt Wade was out pulling straight to Stephen O’Keefe off Sean Abbott’s (1-13) bowling for 15, before O’Keefe added to Victoria’s misery.
He was on a hat-trick when he had Dan Christian caught at cover by Henriques for 6. He then bowled Peter Siddle the very next ball.
Tremain blocked out the hat trick ball and survived until the tea break, however, the Victorian innings did not last much longer after the resumption of play.
