Wes Agar took an excellent five-wicket haul but South Australia squandered their advantage on a manic 15-wicket opening day at the Junction Oval in Melbourne. After bowling out their hosts for a paltry 169 in under two sessions, South Australia themselves were rocked by Mitchell Perry and were reduced to 75/5 by Stumps, still in the arrears by 94 runs.
Victoria’s decision to bat first was a bold one on a spicy surface and after a steady start, their innings unravelled rather quickly and dramatically. From 59/1, the hosts were quickly reduced to 124/6 with the returning Glenn Maxwell among the procession of batters walking in and heading back out. It needed an innings like the one provided by Matthew Short to lift Victoria to a competitive total. Short slammed 10 fours in his 69-ball 70 before Agar returned to mop up the tail and complete his five-wicket haul. Nathan McAndrew and Jordan Buckingham took two wickets apiece for the visitors.
South Australia, however, were unable to double down on the early advantage they had acquired. Perry took each of the first three wickets to fall while Fergus O’ Neill and Jon Holland took a wicket each to have them tottering at 75/5. The visitors will need a counter-attacking innings of their own if they are to get close to Victoria’s first-innings total.
Brief scores: Victoria 169 (Matthew Short 70, Travis Dean 34; Wes Agar 5-54) lead South Australia 75/5 (Mitchell Perry 3-28) by 94 runs
