Head and Christian give Redbacks hope

South Australia 112 and 7 for 225 (Head 75, Christian 50, Bird 3-48) lead Tasmania 138 (Dunk 45, Sayers 4-29, Christian 3-31) by 199 runs
Scorecard

South Australia finished the second day in Hobart hoping to end their long drought without a Sheffield Shield win after Daniel Christian and the rookie batsman Travis Head led a solid second-innings batting display. At stumps, the Redbacks were 7 for 225, with Johan Botha on 17 and Chadd Sayers on 6, and they had turned their first-innings deficit into a lead of 199.

Things didn't start well for South Australia in their second innings as they slipped to 3 for 31 but Head and Callum Ferguson started the rebuild with a 118-run stand. Ferguson made 41 before he was bowled by Jackson Bird and Head fell shortly afterwards for 75, lbw to Xavier Doherty, but Christian was able to prevent a collapse.

Christian made a brisk 50 from 59 balls before he was caught and bowled by Ben Hilfenhaus, whose 1 for 80 from 22 overs were not quite the figures he was hoping for in the lead-up to the first Test. Bird ended up with the pick of the figures for Tasmania, 3 for 48 from 16 overs.

The Tigers had taken first-innings points earlier in the day despite the fact that only three of their batsmen reached double figures. Ben Dunk top scored with 45, Aiden Blizzard made 30 and George Bailey scored 32, and that was enough to push the team past South Australia's 112. Chadd Sayers picked up 4 for 29 and Christian collected 3 for 31.