Hatcher leads New South Wales fightback after McAndrew, Doggett share seven

Ball held sway on the opening day at the SCG as New South Wales struck back in the final session, led by Liam Hatcher, to make it appear their 202 could prove competitive against the defending Sheffield Shield champions South Australia.

The home side, playing their first match since the announcement that coach Greg Shipperd would be leaving at the end of the season, had lost their last five wickets for 22 - and all ten for 152 - after a promising start. Nathan McAndrew and Brendan Doggett shared seven while emerging allrounder Liam Scott collected a brace on a surface that offered assistance throughout the day.

Hatcher helped even the contest with his new-ball spell of 2 for 3 from five overs. Mackenzie Harvey, playing just his second first-class match, dragged on a drive and captain Nathan McSweeney edged an excellent delivery which shaped away to take the shoulder of the bat.

Charlie Stobo had Henry Hunt taken at first slip to leave South Australia 42 for 3 then, after a brisk fourth-wicket stand of 45, Hatcher struck again with just seven minutes of the day remaining to claim the huge wicket of Alex Carey who had looked in good touch.

"[It was] an interesting day," Hatcher said. "We'd have like more runs on the board considering our start, we lost wickets in clumps which was a bit disappointing, but this wicket is only going to get harder to bat on so as long as we are good tomorrow…a lead would be nice, but [keep them] somewhere around our score we are going to be in the game."

Both NSW and South Australia remain in the hunt for second spot and a place in the Shield final as part of a tight mid-table with four teams having secured two wins the first part of the season.

The opening exchanges did not give much indication of what was to come as Sam Konstas and Will Salzmann added 52 for the first wicket at a decent clip. Konstas was given a life on 6 when he edged through the hands of Jake Lehmann at third slip. It was Scott who provided the breakthrough when Salzmann, returning from a hamstring injury which kept him out of the entire BBL, chopped on.

Kurtis Patterson, who became the sixth New South Wales player to reach 100 Shield games for the state, edged into the slips and Lachlan Shaw missed an expansive drive to a delivery that nipped back from Doggett, so much so that it struck leg stump.

Either side of lunch Konstas, who collected back-to-back boundaries with crisp drives before the interval to suggest he was picking up the form he showed before the BBL break, and Josh Philippe rebuilt the innings before the latter gave it away with a spliced pull to mid-on. Six overs later a becalmed Konstas, who had made 4 off his last 25 balls, edged a back-foot drive against Doggett.

Joel Davies briefly counterattacked before dragging on against McAndrew. That came just six balls after captain Jack Edwards had been smartly held at third slip by McSweeney, who had earlier missed him at slip on 8 when he cut Lloyd Pope. NSW lost their third wicket in 10 balls when Tanveer Sangha nicked into the cordon while Stobo's innings was ended by a direct hit from deep square leg by Pope.