Western Australia vs Victoria, WACA
Western Australia defeated Victoria easily by 53 runs in Perth to start their Sheffield Shield campaign. Corey Rocchiccioli, Cameron Gannon, and Aaron Hardie each took three wickets. When Victoria was reduced to 64/3 at Stumps in their second innings on Day 2, they were already in trouble and needed 161 more runs to force Western Australia to bat once more. However, they faltered to 136/8 while losing wickets frequently. The highest score of the innings was a 43 by Mitchell Perry, with the other players failing to keep up. Victoria was ultimately dismissed for 172 runs.
Brief scores: Victoria 256 (Travis Dean 87; Aaron Hardie 3-29, Corey Rocchiccioli 3-39) & 172 (Mitchell Perry 43; Corey Rocchiccioli 3-14, Cameron Gannon 3-54) lost to Western Australia 481 (Cameron Bancroft 122, Teague Wyllie 94; Will Sutherland 3-66) by an innings & 53 runs.
New South Wales vs Queensland, Sydney Showground Stadium
As Queensland’s match against New South Wales in Sydney finished in a draw, their second innings batting performance was highlighted by centuries from Michael Neser and Jimmy Peirson. On Day 3, Queensland was down to 91/5 when Neser and Peirson connected. They kept working together into Day 4, culminating in a double century stand that saved Queensland. Before the sides shook hands, Jack Wildermuth’s unbeaten half-century and Gurinder Sandhu’s 32 undefeated runs carried the day.
Brief scores: Queensland 176 (Bryce Street 45; Jack Edwards 6-36) & 417/7 (Michael Neser 140, Jimmy Peirson 106; Chris Tremain 3-77) drew with New South Wales 446 (Jack Edwards 87, Hayden Kerr 86).