Owen leads Tasmanian comeback after Neil-Smith finishes with seven

By
cricadmin
-
0
61
Owen leads Tasmanian comeback after Neil-Smith finishes with seven


Tasmania 166 for 6 (Owen 70*, Bird 3-46) trail New South Wales 224 (Davies 81*, Henriques 54, Neil-Smith 7-58) by 58 runs

Lawrence Neil-Smith took seven wickets for Tasmania in a rollercoaster of a Sheffield Shield match with New South Wales, whose own bowling attack inspired an early collapse in response on the second day.

Bad light and rain prevented play from continuing in the third session after Mitchell Owen helped Tasmania recover to 166 for 6 at the SCG.

Neil-Smith picked up where he left off after a rain-affected first day, dismissing veteran quick Jackson Bird to break a 52-run partnership with unbeaten Ollie Davies (81).

The Tasmanians made light work of the Blues from there and when he bowled Chris Tremain for a duck, Neil-Smith had the best bowling figures of his career with the hosts bowled out for 224.

In a sour note for NSW, and potentially the BBL’s Sydney Thunder as well, batsman Davies suffered a hairline fracture to his left pinky while playing on day two, but could feature further down the order on day two. The 23-year-old retired after suffering his injury and did not return to the field.

“I don’t think he will be involved in the fielding for the rest of the game,” NSW captain Moises Henriques told AAP. “I don’t think he’ll be able to get there before seven, but from then on he’ll be fine to hit. I don’t know how long after this game.” [he might be sidelined]”.

Neil-Smith’s figures were the sixth best in a first-class match for Tasmania since the turn of the century and the best since teammate Sam Rainbird scored 8 for 21 two summers ago.

But just as their New South Wales counterparts did on day one, the Tasmanian batting order faltered early. Bird took the first three wickets against his former team-mates as the visitors fell to 30 for 3 in a tricky deck, having survived a failed catch and an appeal on their way to 29 without loss.

Things threatened to get even more out of control when Moises Henriques, enjoying a great summer with the ball, saw rival captain Jordan Silk caught behind in the over before lunch.

At number 8, Owen inspired a comeback, partnering Jake Doran (42 not out) in an unbeaten 96-run stand that helped the visitors recover from 70 for 6.

When the covers appeared, Owen, 22, was four races away from equaling his best first-class score.