O'Keefe bowls New South Wales to victory
Steve O'Keefe picked up five wickets on his return from the Test series in the UAE to deliver a 168-run win to New South Wales over South Australia at Adelaide Oval
ESPNcricinfo staff
11-Nov-2014
New South Wales 230 and 5 for 392 dec (Henry 142, Larkin 130, Botha 3-93) beat South Australia 293 and 161 (Hughes 69, O'Keefe 5-24, Starc 3-53) by 168 runs
Scorecard
Scorecard
Steve O'Keefe picked up five wickets on his return from the Test series in the UAE to deliver a 168-run win to New South Wales over South Australia at Adelaide Oval. In a match that went down to the wire, South Australia were set 330 for victory and although the target was out of reach it looked like they might hold on for a draw.
However, the last wicket fell with five overs remaining in the evening's play, when Tim Ludeman was bowled by Mitchell Starc, who collected 3 for 53. The chase had started solidly when Phillip Hughes and Andrew McDonald put on 79 for the opening wicket, before McDonald was lbw to O'Keefe for 30.
The next three batsmen - Callum Ferguson, Tom Cooper and Travis Head - all fell for ducks, and Hughes also fell for 69 among the carnage. O'Keefe was able to run through much of the tail and finished with 5 for 24 from 25 overs.
His most remarkable wicket came when Adam Zampa drove hard and struck the fielder at silly point, and the ball ricocheted high and into the hands of Starc at midwicket.
Earlier, the Blues had declared at 5 for 392, having added 73 to their overnight total for the loss of one more wicket, that of Scott Henry for 142.