New South Wales narrowly save follow-on to ensure draw

The Sheffield Shield match between New South Wales and Western Australia at Bankstown Oval meandered to a draw after the home side had edged past the follow-on target by one two runs.

New South Wales still needed a single to avoid being asked to bat again when the last pair together but the experienced Trent Copeland and concussion sub debutant Riley Ayre just got the job done.

Western Australia, who could yet earn the right to host the final, then batted out time to reach 4 for 75 when play was called to an early end at tea on day four.

Jason Sangha and Chris Tremain combined to save the Blues from a perilous 7 for 98. The pair put on a match-saving 104 for the eighth wicket with Tremain notably scoring 58 for just his second first-class fifty.

No. 4 Sangha was the mainstay of the innings with 86 from 219 deliveries but when he edged Joel Paris behind and Tremain fell to offspinn Corey Rocchiccioli there were a few nervy moments.

Day two was lost to persistent showers before Western Australia's seam attack brought the match back to life during the middle session on day three by tearing through the Blues' top order.

Western Australia host Victoria for their final regular-season match next week while New South Wales travel to face South Australia in Adelaide.

Before next Wednesday's home match Western Australia coach Adam Voges found an upside to the rain-marred contest in Sydney.

"The one advantage of only bowling once is that you don't put a huge workload into your bowling group, and with such a short turnaround hopefully everyone is fit and firing for next week," he said.

WA have played just two of their six matches this season at the WACA, the most recent being in October.

"It is a simple equation for us, we need to win next week and if we do that we can hopefully host the Shield final so clearly we have plenty to play for," Voges said. "It has been a long summer for us, we have spent a lot of time over east and to get back in front of our family and fans [so] we have that incentive of getting a home final."

New South Wales will head to South Australia - the only team out of contention for the final - with several injury concerns.

Coach Phil Jaques was "pretty optimistic" legspinner Tanveer Sangha will be available after suffering a mild concussion while fielding on day one.

Key pair Daniel Hughes and Moises Henriques, however, are far less likely to play after suffering injuries during the match. Experienced wicketkeeper Peter Nevill sat out the contest with a shoulder injury.

New South Wales have already used a significant number of personnel this season, and collected a crucial win in Brisbane last month despite several absentees.

Ayre was their latest debutant, having entered the match as a substitute for Sangha, and the spinner picked up his first wicket to return 1 for 9 from four tidy overs in Western Australia's second innings.