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Pura Cup - SA v NSW

Friday, November 21 2003

Pura Cup – South Australia v New South Wales at Adelaide Oval

Game 7 of this years Pura Cup saw defending champions , the New South Wales Blues pitted against the Southern Redback.
Redbacks & Australian paceman Jason Gillespie returned from a side strain to lead the South Australian attack.

Blues skipper Steve Waugh won the toss & batted on what appeared a perfect surface , however a stinging spell by Paul Rofe netted 3 quick wickets , including the in form pairing of Simon Katich (5) & Steve Waugh (0) leaving the Blues struggling at 3-21.
Phillip Jaques & Mark Waugh both made decent contributions , Waugh being dismissed by the impressive Gillespie for 34 , leaving the Blues 5-117 , then 6-166 after Brad Haddin departed for a quickfire 34.
The Blues innings needed a backbone & opener Greg Mail provided this , batting in dour yet very solid fashion to make 94(12 fours) before he was bowled by Redbacks captain Greg Blewett .
Mail shared an 84 run stand with tailender Don Nash , who finished with 46.
The Blues were all out for a below par 267 an hour before stumps , Paul Rofe continued his great form this season with 4-62 , while Gillespie (2-46) got through 19 overs unscathed , making him a virtual certainty for the first test in Brisbane on December 4.
In reply South Australia reached 0-26 at stumps.

The Redbacks needed a solid start & openers Fitzgerald & Deitz provided , taking their stand to 75 before Stuart Clark struck , Deitz (66) , Blewett (25) , Andrew Flower (21) & Mark Higgs (12) then all fell to Nicholson during the second session before Stuart MacGill cleaned up keeper Graham Manou for a duck , leaving the Redbacks at the crossroads on 6-177.
This brought together Australian under 19’s star Mark Cosgrove & Canadian world cup hero John Davison , in a daring & entertaining partnership (which was helped by more than a small amount of luck) the pair began to take the game away from the Blues attack in their contrasting styles , Cosgrove playing in rock solid fashion , while Davison played the cavalier role , frequently hitting good deliveries over mid wicket & surviving several close calls.
Davison’s luck eventually ran out shortly after thunderstorms had halted play , dismissed by Nicholson for 84 (81 balls , 13 fours) following an invaluable 179 run stand with Cosgrove , who notched his maiden first class century shortly after , eventually being dismissed for 118 (17 fours , 2 sixes).
The Redbacks tail was rapped up quickly as they were bowled out for a neat 400 , Nicholson taking 6-76 while MacGill toiled hard , finishing with 3-119.
Never the less the Redback had finished their first innings with a handy 133 run lead.
Gillespie then reduced them to 1-30 at stumps , removing former test opener Slater for a duck.


Valiant knocks of 46 from Mail & 69 from Katich gave the Blues hope early on day 3 , however both were dismissed in casual fashion by left arm spinner Mark Higgs , Steve Waugh (31) , Phil Jaques (49) & Mark Waugh (29) all made good starts , however what the Blues really needed was for someone to kick on & make a big score , unfortunately no body could deliver & the last 5 wickets fell for just 33 runs , 4 of them going to Gillespie who bagged 5-54 to finish with 7 for the match as the Blues were , as in the first innings , bowled out for 267.
Skipper Blewett & spinner Higgs taking 2 wickets each.

Requiring a modest 135 to win , the Redbacks started in horror fashion , losing Shane Deitz for a duck in Nicholson’s first over & Fitzgerald leg before to Nash for 15 shortly before stumps.


Still needing 97 going into the final day , the Redbacks started well with a 50 run stand between nightwatchman Gillespie & skipper Blewett , Gillespie looking every bit a batsman , slamming 4 boundaries in his 32 before holing out to MacGill off Clark.
Andrew Flower’s poor form continued as he edged behind for just 2 , however by the time Higgs holed out for 23 the result was assured.
The Redbacks winning by 5 wickets , Blewett remained unbeaten on 65 (8 fours , 1 six).
Stuart Clark returned the only note worthy bowling performance with 2-29.

The Redbacks take a full 6 points to move into top spot on the Pura Cup ladder , meanwhile the Blues are languishing in 4th after 3 matches.

Summary – Southern Redbacks 400(Cosgrove 118 , Davison 84 , Nicholson 6-76) & 5-137 (Blewett 65* , Clark 2-29)
Defeated NSW Blues 267 (Mail 94 , Nash 46 , Rofe 4-62) & 267 (Katich 69 , Jaques 49 , Gillespie 5-54) by 5 wickets at Adelaide Oval
Man of the match – Mark Cosgrove


Posted by DavidH