New South Wales staring down the barrel

New South Wales 6-130 (Jaques 41, Faulkner 3-38) & 74 (Maher 5-14, Butterworth 3-20) trail Tasmania 353 (Kruger 150, Copeland 3-112) by 149 runs
Scorecard

Tasmania are four wickets away from registering an innings victory against New South Wales at the Bellerive Oval in Hobart. Beginning day two on 2 for 204, Tasmania recorded an impressive 279-run first-innings lead, before running through the New South Wales top order to leave them tottering at 6 for 130 at stumps.

The hosts looked on target to get an even bigger first innings lead, but after overnight centurion Nick Kruger was dismissed for 150, none of the batsmen took advantage of the starts they got. Fast bowler Scott Coyte ended an ominous 130-run third-wicket partnership between Kruger and George Bailey, dismissing the duo in the same over. New-ball bowlers Trent Copeland and Patrick Cummins then picked up five wickets at regular intervals to restrict Tasmania to 353.

New South Wales' batsmen were equally guilty of not carrying on after getting off to a start, as four of their top five got past 20 only to be dismissed soon after. Left-arm medium pacer James Faulkner was the pick of the Tasmania bowlers, taking 3 for 38 in a 10-over spell. Wicketkeeper Peter Nevill and Steve O'Keefe were at the crease at stumps.