A blistering century from Marcus Harris has given Western Australia an unlikely tilt at winning the Sheffield Shield final against Victoria.
Going in to the last day of play, WA are 280 runs after amassing 2-240 on Tuesday.
Harris (129 not out) reached his ton from 107 balls during the day’s last session at Bellerive Oval.
“My mindset was I’ll try and get them before they got me, and fortunately it paid off,” he told reporters after play.
The left-hander has had a great match, adding 81 runs in WA’s first innings total of 421, but admits the season hasn’t been his most profitable.
“You’re never sure after being such a big break between hundreds when it’s going to happen again,” the 22-year-old said.
“But I knew I’d been hitting the ball well and I batted well in the first innings so I knew if I concentrated for long enough it would be just around the corner.
“Fortunately it was today – and it was in a Shield final.”
Western Australia need an outright victory to claim the Shield, compared to Victoria who will be handed the title with a draw.
The Warriors may well wrap up their innings overnight to make use of the remaining 104 overs as they bid to bowl Victoria out.
“I’ve got all the faith in our bowlers,” Harris said, citing a seven-wicket haul on Tuesday which saw Victoria all out for 381.
After the Bushrangers resumed for the day on 3-288, Ashton Agar (3-100) and Nathan Rimmington (3-79) did most of the damage, taking five wickets between them.
An aggressive WA then returned for their second innings.
Harris first found support from Cameron Bancroft (38) for a 123-run partnership, but the latter was caught out off the bowling of Peter Siddle (1-37).
Michael Klinger (45) then contributed some valuable runs, before being caught and bowled by Scott Boland (1-59).
In a blow to the Bushrangers’ attack, Victoria lost paceman James Pattinson just before tea to a leg complaint.
But coach Greg Shipperd said his absence wasn’t too damaging, and it was others in the bowling group who failed to step up.
“We certainly let 3-288 slip,” Shipperd said of Victoria’s batting.
“We didn’t quite get the runs we were looking for, nor the precision bowling we wanted out of our group.
“The game is still up for grabs for both sides.”
