Starc 10 for 60; New South Wales make it two from two

New South Wales maintained the early running in the Sheffield Shield with an eight-wicket victory against Tasmania to make it two wins on the bounce on the back of Mitchell Starc's match haul of 10 for 60.

It did not take Starc long to nab the final wicket as he speared one into Lawrence Neil-Smith's off stump to finish with 5 for 20 to follow 5 for 40 in the first innings.

After a slow start in the opening Shield match against Queensland last week, where he took 1 for 129 at the Gabba, Starc was impressive on a slow Drummoyne Oval pitch where his ability to find movement at pace with the old ball made him the difference.

He will shortly move into T20I mode with Australia for the six matches against Sri Lanka and Pakistan before the potential of one more Shield outing before the first Test against Pakistan at the Gabba.

This performance will leave him firmly in the mix for a starting spot in that match after he played just once during the Ashes. Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood are locked in, along with Nathan Lyon, which leaves one pace-bowling spot up for grabs. It is probably between Starc and James Pattinson with Peter Siddle and Michael Neser outside chances.

Starc's performance left New South Wales needing 45 and the openers got them almost there with Daniel Hughes timing the ball sweetly before he was lbw to Alex Pyecroft.

Pyecroft then had the satisfaction of trapping Steven Smith lbw for 2 when he walked across the crease and missed a straight delivery leaving Moises Henriques - who helped set up the victory with his 124 - to secure the win by clipping his first ball for four. David Warner finished unbeaten on 15.