Australia’s Test stars flexed their muscles on the final day of the opening Sheffield Shield matches, with Alex Carey trumping Nathan Lyon to bring up an impressive century.
Carey and new South Australian captain Nathan McSweeney posted hundreds to save the Redbacks from defeat against New South Wales after a Lyon masterclass reduced them to 4-23 early on Friday at Cricket Central.
The Australian wicketkeeper notched his seventh first-class century as Mitch Marsh fell just short of a ton for Western Australia against Queensland at the WACA.
Marsh, who did not bowl during the match, bludgeoned 14 fours and a six in his 94 after putting on a crucial 121-run partnership with Hilton Cartwright to keep the Bulls at bay
The powerful all-rounder attempted an aggressive pull shot to bring up his century, but skied it for keeper Jimmy Peirson to take a simple 사설 catch and hand Jack Wildermuth his third wicket.
The Warriors declared at 6-263 following a quickfire 48 from Josh Inglis and set Queensland an ambitious 362 to win in just over half a day’s play.
Test opening hopeful Matt Renshaw was caught behind the wicket early for a second successive innings, returning scores of only six and 15.
While 19-year-old twin centurion Sam Konstas stole the show in the Blues-Redbacks clash, McSweeney stamped himself as next in line for a Test middle order spot after his marathon 127 off 283 balls steered his team to a draw.