Bollinger bowls Blues into strong position

Western Australia 131 and 7 for 231 (S Marsh 94, Bollinger 4-61) lead New South Wales 274 (Hughes 58, D Smith 52, Henriques 52, Knowles 4-99) by 88 runs
Scorecard

Doug Bollinger didn't win a place in the Test team but he remains in fine wicket-taking form after helping New South Wales into a very powerful position at the WACA. Bollinger picked up 4 for 61 to add to his first-innings tally of three wickets as Western Australia struggled to stay afloat, despite Shaun Marsh's 94.

At stumps on the second day, the Warriors were 7 for 231 in their second innings and with an advantage of only 88, they needed something special to avoid defeat within three days at home. At the close their hopes remained with the debutant Justin Coetzee, who was unbeaten on 15, and Steve Magoffin, who was on 3.

While Marsh and Luke Ronchi were at the crease Western Australia had hopes of building a defendable total. The pair put on 99 for the sixth wicket before Ronchi was caught behind off Bollinger for 44 and six overs later, Marsh missed his century when he was trapped by Josh Hazlewood.

The rest of the specialist batsmen hadn't offered much resistance against Bollinger and his colleagues, who could almost have pushed for a two-day win with the score at 5 for 106. The Blues had batted themselves into a 143-run lead thanks to half-centuries from Daniel Smith and Moises Henriques, who each scored 52 to build on the platform set by Phillip Hughes' opening-day 58.

Their advantage could have been far greater but for some lower-order stumbles and the final six New South Wales wickets fell for 62 runs. Theo Doropoulos missed the chance for a hat-trick when he had Steven Smith and Stuart Clark out with consecutive balls and Brad Knowles (4 for 99) finished with the best figures for the Warriors.