Casualties of Waugh mount as Blues snatch points

As if to prove that the range of new bribery allegations against him have done little to alter the elegance of his batting, Mark Waugh (152) has slammed a defiant century to lead New South Wales to first innings points on day three of the Pura Cup clash with Tasmania in Hobart. Waugh led a fine middle and lower order performance from the Blues on a day when circumstances and conditions ran very firmly in the visitors' favour.

With the fourth century of the match, Waugh promptly dispelled any lingering rumours that he is unworthy of a place in the Test team that will tackle the touring West Indian side in a fortnight's time. His timing was characteristically assured and his range of strokeplay a feature as he set about the business of transforming a tense battle for the first innings honours into a comfortable decision.

Nonetheless, Waugh's task - and that of his teammates - was not too taxing given the benign nature of the Bellerive Oval pitch and the horribly depleted state of the Tasmanian attack.

After promising left armer Andrew Downton had taken his leave of absence from the match yesterday as a result of straining his intercostal muscle, the Tigers' plight became even more grave when his fellow fast bowler Damien Wright succumbed to a damaged quadricep not long into the new day's play. This left the locals needing to rely largely on veteran David Saker (1/97) and the unheralded Scott Kremerskothen (2/120) in the pace department. Saker had an imploring lbw appeal against Waugh (then on 24*) turned down early in the morning; Kremerskothen beat him on 40 with an inswinging yorker that shaved leg stump; and Dene Hills missed with a throw from cover that would have run him out with his total at 57. Otherwise, scares were few and far between.

And just to compound the Tigers' literal and metaphorical agony, Waugh was able to lead a brutal flurry of scoring with tailenders Don Nash (32) and Nathan Bracken (30) that saw the Blues extend their lead to as many as 102 runs. After spending more than half a hour in the nineties, Waugh smashed his next fifty runs from a mere twenty-six deliveries, leading a phenomenal display of hitting that only ended when the very occasional spin of Hills (2/20) drew two errant shots deep into the leg side field.

Waugh was unavailable for comment after an innings which guided New South Wales to a total of 464 before Tasmania itself made batting look easy in reaching 1/119 by stumps. But rival skipper Jamie Cox paid testimony to the hand.

"He played very well, hit some awesome shots. One hundred and fifty runs - you can't buy them off the shelf," said Cox.

As for the fate of the match, though, the Tasmanian captain was less enthusiastic.

"We were one hundred runs down at the start of the second innings and we're two bowlers down. I don't think that gives us any leeway at all. We owe it to ourselves to take something out of this game, and that appears as though it's an honourable draw."