Jurgensen extends Tigers' remarkable journey

In harmony with the look of a construction site that the Bellerive Oval has adopted of late, there has been the sense that something has been building all summer in Tasmanian cricket. It peaked at a crescendo today as the Tigers used irresistible confidence, a Shane Jurgensen hat-trick, and a near-record catching exhibition by Daniel Marsh in the slips, to crush New South Wales by ten wickets in their Pura Cup match here in Hobart.

Jurgensen's moment of glory came in mid-afternoon, affirming New South Wales' slide toward a second innings total of 238 after it had trailed by only one run less than that mark on the first. Michael Clarke (20) was trapped in front of his stumps by an off cutter; debutant Vaughan Williams (0) suffered exactly the same fate; and Brad Haddin (0) then edged a late-tailing outswinger to first slip.

It was only the second hat-trick in Tasmanian first-class history; it was the first of its type at Bellerive; and it culminated in the sight of the remainder of the Tigers' players leaping, cavorting and wrapping themselves around their paceman as if they were trying to bust a dam wall.

Even twelfth man Shannon Tubb, bearing drinks for his teammates, sprinted on to the field at pace that might have shaded Carl Lewis in his heyday.

"I was in a daze," said Jurgensen of his reaction to the achievement.

"It was just amazing; there were blokes everywhere just jumping. I thought, for sure, that I'd get a spike in the foot or something."

In the process of his destruction, Jurgensen (6/65) - the journeyman who was crisscrossed from Queensland to Western Australia and now Tasmania in the search for a regular first-class position - had also all but ensured that his new team will play his native state in the 2001-02 Pura Cup Final.

"I just can't believe it, really. It's been an amazing turnaround for us since Christmas. We've done extremely well and we've just got one week to go now.

"The next week's more important than anything. It's an excellent, really exciting time for everyone involved in Tasmanian cricket."

The Tigers were made to wait for 90 minutes to resume their charge toward just the third finals match in the state's first-class history as light drizzle delayed the day's start. When they returned to the middle, they wasted little time in securing their passage into the decider.

Veteran paceman David Saker (1/71) made the crucial opening breakthrough when he found an edge from the bat of Matthew Phelps (41) after only ten minutes. Diving hard to his right at slip, Marsh took an outstanding catch that became the first of four for the innings. He finished with six for the match - a mark bettered only once by a non-wicketkeeper in the entirety of his state's first-class experience.

When New South Wales captain Michael Slater (7) edged a Jurgensen ball of impeccable length to Marsh only two minutes before the scheduled lunch break, the Tigers' joy reached a new zenith.

All-rounder Grant Lambert (45*) completed a determined match when he produced a plucky innings during the game's dying hours. Resistance in the face of the near-inevitable was also offered by Phil Jaques (23), Nathan Bracken (22) and Stuart Clark (18) for a Blues team that fought hard in spite of the fact that it had little for which to play.

But the momentum was overwhelmingly with Tasmania - as it concluded a remarkable post-Christmas revival that has yielded four resounding wins in the space of five appearances. The fifth was denied by bucketing rain in Melbourne.

Jurgensen ultimately re-arranged his career-best figures for the second time in the match, pairing a haul of six wickets with his five from the first innings. It was an effort made all the more meritorious in that his team had lost fellow fast bowler Damien Wright to injury and that he was forced to work into a headwind for all of the 16 overs that he bowled in an outstanding sustained spell.

Not even a last-wicket stand of 43 runs between Lambert and Clark could head off Tasmania's victory march for long. Nor rearrange its quotient sufficiently to give third-placed Western Australia any hope of knocking the island staters out of their appointment with Queensland in Brisbane next Friday.

The Tigers ultimately required only one second innings delivery to complete their victory, sealing their place in the Final when captain Jamie Cox symbolically thrashed an outswinger from Clark through the covers.

It's doubtful that their rallying call - an anthemic adaptation of the Richmond Football Club's official song - has ever been performed with more gusto in the Tasmanian dressing room.