Third day of Sheffield Shield final washed out with Victoria well placed

http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2015/mar/23/day-three-sheffield-shield-final-report

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Day three of the Sheffield Shield final was abandoned due to rain with Victoria 288-3 in reply to Western Australia’s first innings total of 421.

The lost time is bad news for WA who need an outright victory in the five-day decider to secure the Shield, while Victoria can claim the title with a draw.

The Bushrangers moved at a leisurely pace on the Bellerive wicket on Monday, happily letting bowlers notch up maiden overs.

But there were breakthroughs for WA, including the wicket of century-maker Chris Rogers (112) in the first session. After resuming the day at 0-135, Rogers was the first to go, trapped lbw trying to sweep Ashton Agar (1-78).

The wicket broke a 185-run partnership with Rob Quiney (69), who was gone five overs later, caught off a Nathan Coulter-Nile (1-67) delivery.

Fresh batsman Marcus Stoinis (43 not out) and David Hussey (33) started to look settled until the latter was out lbw to Simon Mackin (1-40).

Stoinis was handed a lifeline shortly after lunch when he hit a full-length Andrew Tye (0-32) delivery to short mid-wicket. It sat up perfectly but was dropped by Marcus Harris in a valuable chance wasted by the Warriors.

Stoinis remains unbeaten and has a 29-run partnership with Peter Handscomb (16 no). The forecast for Hobart on Tuesday is fine when play is due to start at 10am (AEDT).