Sixteen wickets fall in Melbourne

South Australia 6 for 156 (Cosgrove 50, Tremain 3-33) trail Victoria 180 (Maxwell 62, Worrall 5-69, Mennie 3-46) by 24 runs
Scorecard

Sixteen wickets tumbled on the first day at the MCG, where Victoria were rolled for 180 before South Australia wobbled to 6 for 156 at stumps. Daniel Worrall picked up his first five-wicket haul in first-class cricket and team-mate Joe Mennie chipped in with three, while Chris Tremain led Victoria's attack with three. Scott Boland, on standby for the Hobart Test, went wicketless.

The Bushrangers were sent in by Travis Head on a green-tinged pitch and after a 32-run opening stand they were soon in trouble, Mennie removing both the openers and captain Aaron Finch for a duck. It was left to Glenn Maxwell to counter-attack for Victoria and he struck six fours on his way to 62 from 55 deliveries before he was bowled by Worrall, who finished with 5 for 69.

John Hastings scored a valuable 38 late in the innings but was the last man out when Victoria were dismissed in the 46th over. South Australia looked as if they might be relatively untroubled with the bat and moved to 65 before the opening partnership was broken when Tremain had Tom Cooper caught behind for 18.

In his next over Tremain bowled Callum Ferguson for a duck and soon afterwards he got rid of Mark Cosgrove for 50, before Hastings collected two wickets and Fawad Ahmed had Alex Ross lbw for 24. By stumps South Australia were relying on Tim Ludeman, who was on 16, and Adam Zampa, on 11, but they needed only 25 more runs to take a first-innings lead.