Weather forces draw after Jaques half-century

New South Wales 304 and 5 for 190 (Jaques 79) drew with South Australia 9 for 399 dec and 198
Scorecard

Rain and bad light prevented either side from making a sustained assault on victory as South Australia and New South Wales settled for a draw at the SCG. Phil Jaques laid the platform for the Blues to make a late push but the situation deteriorated once he departed for 79, which confirmed his Man-of-the-Match performance following his first-innings 163.

New South Wales began at 0 for 13 in search of 294 and were travelling comfortably at 2 for 145 when Jaques was removed by Darren Lehmann with the forecast showers approaching. Brad Haddin promoted himself to No. 5 in an effort to increase the scoring rate but he was bowled by Paul Rofe and the rain caused a 30-minute delay.

When play resumed Aaron O'Brien fell to Shaun Tait to give South Australia a chance to add to their two first-innings points, but Dominic Thornely (35) and Moises Henriques (13) accepted a bad-light offer that ended the match. Cullen Bailey, the legspinner who opened the bowling last night, started the day strongly with the wickets of Greg Mail and Ed Cowan in the first session, but was unable to make further dints in the New South Wales order.