New South Wales clinch a thriller

New South Wales 7 for 248 (Michael Clarke 55) beat South Australia 6 for 245 (Lehmann 75, Manou 52) by 3 wickets
Scorecard

New South Wales' top order all chipped in with useful contributions, helping them pip South Australia by three wickets with just one ball to spare in an ING Cup match at the Bankstown Oval in Sydney. Needing 246 for victory, no-one scored more than Michael Clarke's 55, but all the batsmen made handy additions to the score, ensuring that New South Wales walked away with four points.

Simon Katich, the NSW captain, won the toss and chose to field, and his decision immediately paid off when Matthew Elliott was dismissed by Brett Lee for a fourth-ball duck. Graham Manou, though, held firm, scoring a useful 52, while Darren Lehmann propped up the innings with an enterprising 75, scored from just 83 balls. Lee finished up with 2 for 61, and also struck Jason Gillespie on the ribs, forcing him to go for a precautionary e-ray, while Glenn McGrath was at his stingy best, conceding just 30 from ten overs.

New South Wales' run chase got off to a fine start, with Phil Jacques and Simon Katich adding 80 for the opening wicket in less than 15 overs. Both were dismissed in quick succession, but Clarke kept the chase going with his half-century, while the rest of the batsmen all added vital contributions. Clarke hit six fours in his knock, but got two lucky reprieves - on 17 he was put down by Gary Putland at long-on, while Manou, the wicketkeeper, dropped him on 49. Things got uncomfortable for NSW when Jason Gillespie bowled a superb 49th over, conceding just two runs and taking the wicket of Lee. That left the team needing seven for victory off the final over, and after the first four balls produced five, Nathan Bracken finished it off with an edged four off Mark Cleary.

After the game, Clarke expressed his delight at his innings, but expressed his disappointment at the manner of his dismissal, a hoick down to long-off. "I definitely enjoyed yesterday and I enjoyed today, but I was disappointed with the way I got out today," Clarke said. "I would have liked a few more today, but I feel like I'm hitting the ball pretty well. I'm working as hard as I can."

Lehmann, the South Australian captain, put the defeat down to poor fielding. "They played very well [but] we missed a couple of chances, and dropped Clarke. If we had held our chances and fielded a bit better we would have won the game quite comfortably."

The win was the second one for NSW in as many games, and took their points tally up to ten.