Tasmania 206 and 5 for 116 (Cowan 33, Fawad 2-64) trail Victoria 9 for 523 dec (Stoinis 170, David Hussey 88) by 201 runs
Scorecard

Victoria were close to completing a big win at the end of the third day of their Sheffield Shield clash against Tasmania in Melbourne. Victoria, who already had a 187-run lead heading into the penultimate day, went on to post a mammoth 9 for 523 before finally declaring after 158.1 overs.

Tasmania began the day well, dismissing the overnight batsmen Peter Handscomb (43) and Marcus Stoinis (170) in quick succession. However, Victoria's last five batsmen all chipped in with handy knocks to increase their lead. The team's captain Matthew Wade struck a half-century and combined with John Hastings for a seventh-wicket association that yielded 52 runs, as Victoria closed their innings with a healthy lead of 317. Xavier Doherty snared four wickets for Tasmania, but leaked 130 runs from 46.1 overs.

Tasmania would have hopped for a better display with the bat then their outing in the first innings which saw them bowled out for 206, but once again, they failed to gather any momentum and slumped to 116 for 5 at stumps. Ed Cowan (33) and Ben Dunk (28) began solidly but could not build on and make a fifty. Fawad Ahmed picked up two wickets, including the scalp of Cowan, while Hastings, Jake Reed and Scott Boland took one each to leave Tasmania needing another 201 runs to avoid an innings defeat.