Blewett finds some touch as SA reaches 6/240

On a Friday where tight bowling was the order of the day, South Australia ground out 6/240 at barely two and a half runs an over after a struggle against tight, disciplined bowling from Tasmania on the opening day of the states' Pura Cup contest at the Adelaide Oval.

That they made as many as that was thanks to a Greg Blewett (70) and Jeff Vaughan (63) union of 115 for the fourth wicket in 162 minutes which absorbed much of the middle portion of the day. Blewett, who has found runs in recent times harder to score than the current West Indian top order, started cautiously and responsibly after SA lost three wickets for sixty before lunch. Blewett's timing became crisper the longer he batted and it was perhaps only a little loss of concentration that accounted for his demise, as he edged the persistent Ben Targett (3/54) to gully off the front foot half an hour after tea.

Vaughan played in a confident vain from the word go, which was a good sign given that he has, in the past, been a sometimes edgy starter. He drove nicely on both sides of the wicket in his three-hour long effort, before succumbing to an attempted glide to third man which went straight into the hands of second slip. It was an untimely wicket as his senior partner Blewett had just gone and SA had fallen to 5/189.

Redback debutant Mick Miller avoided the duck immediately but went to a refreshed Damien Wright in the next over and, with the new ball pending, SA were 6/190 with an hour to play. Graham Manou had some tense moments, playing and missing at three in row from David Saker with the second new ball before helping raise the fifty stand with Ben Johnson, who in the main drove with authority in his stay.

Late in the day, Johnson edged a ball through third slip and gully for a boundary and then between gully and point off the next delivery for two. A frustrated Saker couldn't penetrate his defences completely and the left hander went to stumps with 37 against his name.

Earlier, Tasmania's bowlers snuck out three of the home side's batsmen before lunch, with Shane Deitz (14) and David Fitzgerald (26) edging behind as they drove at the line, rather than at the pitch, of the ball. The prized scalp of Darren Lehmann (5) fell just before lunch, to a long hop from Targett which he casually hit to cover point. This was more a product of accurate bowling rather than huge sideways movement.

As far as Targett was concerned he would have been well pleased with his day. Likewise Saker (1/59) bowled in workmanlike fashion with little success and Wright (1/34) hustled and bustled in with enthusiasm as the run rate failed to reach any great heights.

Tomorrow shapes as an interesting day and a potential launching pad for some exciting cricket, given that neither side has many points to its name in a season which has so far dogged both states with injury.