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SPORT sundayterritorian.com.au

Territory in trouble against WA in two-day gameBy IAN BUTTERWORTH SCORECARD

WESTERNAUSTRALIA 157(J Clifton 62; T Andrews 4-59,L Griffiths 2-15, J Logan 2-27)and0-27 vNORTHERNTERRITORY8 (dec) 87(J Weatherald 31; C Steel3-20, J Johnston 2-13)

WA lead by 97 runswithone day to play

AFTER a strong bowling per-formance against WA, theTerritory under-17 cricketerssuccumbed with the bat andtrailed dismally at stumpslast night, after day one oftheir opening two-day gameat the National Champion-ships in Tasmania.

Coming off emphatic winsagainst SA and ACT, the NT

looked on track for anothermemorable performance afterbowling out WA for 157 in itsfirst innings.

A poor batting performanceon a seaming wicket saw theTerritory declare its inning at8-87 and WA progressed to0-27 at stumps — an overalllead of 97 with a day to play.

Batting first, WA startedslowly and after 18 overs wereat a precarious 2-36.

But worse was to come forthe sandgropers as NT cap-tain Thomas Andrews (4-59off 26 overs) weaved his left-arm orthodox magic, remov-ing the next four batsman toleave the yellow caps reelingat 6-113.

‘‘We played on a new wicketblock and didn’t know what toexpect, but having said that,we just didn’t bowl at thestumps enough in their first

inning,’’ NT coach Rob Elliottsaid last night.

‘‘To add insult to injury, wedropped Jonathon Clifton (62)when he was on two, and hescored almost half theirruns.’’

The Territory failed tomatch WA with the bat andonly Jake Weatherald (31)handled the conditions withany certainty.

‘‘Batting is about partner-

ships and we didn’t put anytogether, and that was theother disappointing aspect ofour game today,’’ Elliott said.

‘‘Having declared puts theonus back on WA, becausethey will be keen for an out-right win.

‘‘Clearly we didn’t knockone or two over, but there isstill 100 overs left and theboys will fight till the end —so it’s not over yet.’’

Cowanunderradar ofselectors

Ed Cowan

HOW frustrated must EdCowan feel?

Ed who? Exactly.Despite compiling his

third first-class ton in asmany matches, the Tasman-ian opener would be for-given for feeling like one ofAustralia’s most overlookedbatsmen. And during a timewhen an Australian Testopener’s spot appears upfor grabs.

His frustration only looksset to grow after confusionsurrounded whether Cowanwould get a final chance toimpress national selectorsahead of the four-Test seriesagainst India.

Cowan, 29, has been na-med captain ofa Cricket Aust-ralia Chair-man’s XI to tac-kle India in atwo-day trialfrom December15 in Canberra.

It was a fitting reward af-ter amassing 578 first-classruns this season at 64.22.

But it was unclear yester-day whether Cowan wouldhave to play for hisTwenty20 side the SydneySixers and sacrifice a rarechance to shine in frontof selectors.

The uncertainty was cre-ated by the Chairman’s XImatch directly clashingwith the Sixers’ Big BashLeague opening game withBrisbane Heat at the SCG onDecember 16.

Adding to Cowan’s con-fusion was the wording of aCricket Australia statementthat implied only players ina second Chairman’s XIclash with India — fromDecember 19-21 in Canberra— would be in Boxing DayTest calculations.

Under-pressure openerPhil Hughes, who wascaught behind for the 20thtime in 30 Test innings onthe opening day of Austra-lia’s second trans-Tasmanclash on Friday, is playingin that second game — andCowan is not.

So it seems no matterwhat happens in Hobart,Hughes gets one last chanceto press his Test claims.

The scholarly Cowanwrote in his highly ac-claimed diary of last sum-mer In the Firing Line thathe sometimes felt invisibleas a state cricketer.

Time will tell whether hegets a chance to finallychange that.

Richardson helps Redbacks secure victory in PerthA 111-run opening partner-ship was the catalyst forSouth Australia’s bonus-point victory over WesternAustralia in their one-dayclash at the WACA last night.

The Warriors, who are stillsearching for their first vic-tory in the competition aftersix attempts, were always onthe back foot as SA comfort-

ably chased down their totalof 8-252, easing to victory at4-253 in the 40th over.

Territorian Kane Richard-son (3-43) was named man ofthe match for the Redbacks.

The platform for the winwas laid by openers MichaelKlinger and Dan Harris,whose first-wicket stand wasput on off 125 balls in 83 min-

utes. After a patient start,both batsmen went on the at-tack, with the WA bowlersstruggling for consistent lineand length.

Harris in particular wenton the offensive, hitting twosixes and eight fours in anaggressive knock.

He was dismissed for awell-made 58 from 72 balls

when he skied an attemptedhook shot and was caughtand bowled by Mitch Marsh.

Klinger followed soon afterfor 46 from 55 balls, top-edging a pull shot to keeperLuke Ronchi, who took agood diving catch to make thescore 2-116.

SA promoted keeper AdamCrosthwaite up the order in a

bid to score quick runs andchase the bonus point — butthe move didn’t pay off.

Crosthwaite departed foreight, to leave the Redbacksat 3-124.

It was then up to middle-order stars Dan Christianand Callum Fergusonto fight and guide their sidetoward victory.

Blacks Caps in boxseat to claim Test

Ricky Ponting may be looking for another way to hold his spot in the Australian team, bowling the last over yesterday

By LAINE CLARK

THE message from MichaelClarke’s men to a NewZealand daring to dream ofending a 26-year hoodoo onAustralian soil, was clear —‘‘we can chase anything’’.

The Black Caps are in thebox seat to notch their firstTest win in Australia since1985 after moving to 3-139 intheir second dig by stumps onday two of the second Test,holding an overall lead of 153.

Captain Ross Taylor (42 notout) stood tall in an unbroken66-run stand with KaneWilliamson (34no).

And New Zealand have al-ready made an impact on therecord books after routingAustralia for 136 in Hobartyesterday — the Aussies’lowest Test innings total onhome soil against the Kiwis.

But Australian quick PeterSiddle did his best to deflateany confidence the BlackCaps took from their best dayof Test cricket in years.

‘‘I think with our battingline-up and the way the wick-et played this afternoon wecan chase anything,’’ Siddle,who top scored with 36, said.

He fancied Australia’schances with the ball despiteworking with a wicket that isno longer a raging green top.

‘‘Hopefully we can skittlethem for as little as possible,’’he said. ‘‘If it is overcast likeit usually is out there, that isgoing to help us out.

‘‘We have to get stuck intomorrow and move on.’’

Kiwi quick Chris Martin,who celebrated his 37th birth-day yesterday by claiming3-46, said New Zealand weredetermined to cash in ontheir big chance, especiallyafter being rolled by ninewickets in the first Testin Brisbane.

‘‘To put it in perspective,for us to bounce back afterthe way we played in Bris-bane would be massive forus,’’ he said.

‘‘I think that has been a keyfocus for us in this game — toshow that we are not as pooras we looked in Brisbane.’’Martin was coy when asked

about New Zealand’s chancesof breaking their Australiandrought.

‘‘Any time you roll Austra-lia for under 150, I think thatyou’ve felt that you’ve had agood day,’’ he said.

‘‘I do not know how manyruns are needed (to bat Aust-ralia out of the game), so we

will just have to see how wego tomorrow.’’

Barely a month after col-lapsing for 47 to South Africain Cape Town — their lowestTest total in 109 years —Australia’s batsmen againput on a procession yester-day. Reduced to 7-75, Austra-lia looked on course to re-

write their lowest overallTest total against the Kiwis —103 set in Auckland in 1986.But Siddle and James Pattin-son (17) put on 56 for theeighth wicket before Austra-lia fell just 14 runs short ofNew Zealand. It was theirthird lowest overall totalagainst the Kiwis in 52 Tests.