Patterson's milestone-game hundred builds commanding lead

Kurtis Patterson turned his 100th Sheffield Shield match into a memorable occasion with a career-best 173 not out, celebrating his century with a roar that echoed around the SCG, as New South Wales left South Australia with a mountain to climb.

Patterson finished with the highest score of the Shield season to date, adding 106 with Jack Edwards and 120 with Tanveer Sangha, who scored a maiden half-century, before NSW declared half an hour into the final session leaving a target of 446 in a minimum of 116 overs.

"If there's just one thing I've learned, it's that hundreds aren't easy and you have to celebrate every one that comes from now," Patterson told ESPNcricinfo. "It was just a nice feeling. It felt like a tricky wicket, just one of those you're never going to feel quite in on.

"I felt like I had my little moments where I was able to run with some momentum but then had to get scrappy for a little while. Just really, really pleasing to score those runs and then probably even more pleasing to then go on and really put a nice score on the board."

Edwards broke through with the new ball when Henry Hunt was brilliantly held at third slip by Charlie Stobo after Will Salzmann initially spilled the edge at gully. Mackenzie Harvey and Nathan McSweeney did well to see out the day against some testing pace bowling.

The ball had held sway over the first two days, and there was an expectation that batting would only get tougher, but while it appeared conditions had eased somewhat, that can partly be attributed to the fact that from after lunch onwards South Australia resorted largely to the spin of Lloyd Pope and McSweeney who combined for figures of 1 for 165 off 47 overs.

Patterson, who was unbeaten on 59 overnight, did not hit a boundary during the morning session, taking until the 87th over to add to his tally when he punched Brendan Doggett down the ground. That was followed in the next over by a back cut from his 207th ball which brought up a 15th first-class century and second of the season. As the ball reached the deep third rope Patterson let out a scream as he sprinted in the direction of the pavilion in celebration.

He continued to march on, his off-side strokeplay especially pleasing, as the lead swelled during the eighth-wicket stand with Sangha whose previous first-class best was 22.

Patterson, who also scored a century on his first-class debut in 2011, was discussed as a potential option for a Test return earlier in the season to add to the two caps he earned in 2019 (which have left him holding an average of 144.00) but he did not put together the compelling early run needed with four single-figure scores to start his Shield season before a century against Queensland.

"I've had a bit of a nightmare with the second innings of late," he said. "So I changed a couple of things and just tried to get my front pad out of the way a bit more than I have in the past and actually just try and trust my bat and trust my bat face to go through the line of the ball. That's also pleasing.

"It's the constant problem solving that the game throws up. As soon as you feel like you've figured it out, it throws something new at you. So, that second innings kind of pattern that I've had has been sitting in my mind for a couple of months over the Big Bash and it was nice to, I guess, kind of show myself to get that monkey off the back."

Doggett had threatened to bring South Australia back into the game during the morning session. Edwards struck three consecutive boundaries in the second over the day but his crisp 61 ended when he picked out deep square leg then Joel Davies dragged on for a duck.

At that point, the NSW lead was 223 and not out of sight for the visitors but they could not run through the lower order. Stobo played his part, surviving 72 balls in a partnership of 42, before falling to the second new ball but that was South Australia's last success for quite some time as Sangha offered Patterson priceless support.

Late in the innings, Doggett left the field clutching his left hamstring after trying to chase down Patterson's cover drive which took him past his previous best of 167. Doggett immediately grabbed his leg and looked in significant discomfort as he made his way into the dressing room and was seen leaving the ground on crutches after play.

The NSW innings closed in a flurry of boundaries from Liam Hatcher who flayed 36 off 21 balls including 20 off what became the final over against Liam Scott. However, they may yet come to regret batting on as long as they did given there is some rain forecast on the final day.