Bancroft, Marsh set South Australia 316 target

South Australia 191 and 0 for 17 need 299 runs to beat Western Australia 211 and 295 (Bancroft 111, Marsh 92, Richardson 3-54, Mennie 3-56)
Scorecard

Cameron Bancroft and Shaun Marsh rebounded from their Test team omissions with a stand of 172 for Western Australia before South Australia wrapped up the rest of the Warriors' innings to give themselves a feasible fourth-innings target of 316 in the Sheffield Shield match at Adelaide Oval.

WA lost the nightwatchman Jason Behrendorff early on day three, but Bancroft and the stand-in captain Marsh then frustrated the Redbacks while composing the most substantial scores of the match. Bancroft's 111 was further evidence of his ability to craft lengthy, sensible innings.

At 2 for 217 the Warriors looked capable of batting SA right out of the match, but when Kane Richardson had Marsh caught behind with the second new ball, the day took on a different tone. All the Redbacks bowlers contributed to the fightback, which saw the visitors lose their last eight wickets for just 78.

Mark Cosgrove and Kelvin Smith then negotiated the last five overs of the day for the addition of 17 runs, to leave the match finely poised entering the final day on a surface that has not shown signs of deterioration.