Cowan scores second ton of match

Tasmania 362 and 4 for 176 (Cowan 111*) lead South Australia 302 (Cosgrove 79, Botha 70, Head 64, Fekete 3-58, Hilfenhaus 3-78) by 236 runs
Scorecard

Ed Cowan scored his second century of the match and fourth for the Sheffield Shield season as Tasmania built a strong lead over South Australia on the third day in Hobart. At stumps, Tasmania were 4 for 176 in their second innings and their advantage had grown to 236 runs, with Cowan unbeaten on 111 and James Faulkner on 5.

It continued an excellent start to the Shield campaign for Cowan, who began with 100 in Tasmania's first match against Western Australia in Perth and followed with 105 at home against Victoria. The last time a player scored four hundreds in a Shield summer was in 2009-10 when Steven Smith achieved the feat; Cowan has now done so by the halfway point of the season.

His 21st first-class century prevented South Australia fighting back into the match after they fell 60 short of Tasmania's first-innings total. The Redbacks started the third day at 3 for 114 and contributions from Mark Cosgrove (79), Travis Head (64) and Johan Botha (70) got them over the 300-mark, but only just, as they were dismissed for 302.

Andrew Fekete and Ben Hilfenhaus claimed three wickets each for Tasmania before the Tigers batted a second time and lost opener Jordan Silk for 13. Alex Doolan made 19 and George Bailey scored 22, but Cowan was the only Tasmania batsman who went on with his start.