Noffke restricts South Australia to 204
Ashley Noffke added his name to the long list of Test aspirants with a fine performance against South Australia at the Gabba
Wisden Cricinfo staff
19-Dec-2003
Ashley Noffke added his name to the long list of Test aspirants with a fine performance against South Australia at the Gabba. Noffke took 4 for 48 and restricted SA to 204, after opting to bat first, on a good, hard Brisbane wicket.
Things could have been worse. After a steady 74 from Shane Deitz, the opener, SA were tottering at 8 for 146, but Graham Manou (51 off 62), the wicketkeeper, inflated the total with some lusty hitting. Queensland still have first-innings points firmly in sight after moving to 1 for 66 at stumps, with Jimmy Maher, the captain, unbeaten on 35. The only sad note for the home fans was that Matthew Hayden failed as in his first Pura Cup appearance in two years, he sliced a drive off Mark Cleary to point early in his innings (1 for 32).
Noffke celebrated his 100th wicket for his state with his second scalp, when Shane Deitz (71), the opener, top-edged a hook to Michael Kasprowicz who took an amazing diving catch at long leg. Noffke attributed the turnaround to putting his fears out of his mind. "It's one of those things where injury takes a high price of your mental thought and today I made conscious effort of not thinking about the body."
Kasprowicz took the key wicket of Andy Flower (2 for 41), playing on for 11, to start the slump and Andrew Symonds compounded SA's misery. Symonds, gaining swing and seam from his medium-pacers, snared Greg Blewett, the SA captain, lbw for 8 (3 for 25)
SA were left to rue a missed chance towards the end, when Mick Miller dropped Clinton Perren at third slip.
Brett Lee showed promising signs of pace and aggression in the Pura Cup match against Tasmania at the SCG today. Still below his hostile best, Lee nevertheless bowled a fiery spell to take 4 for 106 from 21 overs on a day of searing heat, as Tasmania reached 8 for 270 at stumps.
A virtually empty SCG echoed with the sound of Lee grunting as he delivered each ball, straining for his trademark speed. Rearing bouncers had the Tasmanian batsmen ducking for cover but Lee appeared to tire as the day wore on, conceding 29 runs from his three overs after tea. His first scalp was Jamie Cox, the prolific opener, who was lbw for 9 in his fourth over, and then claimed the wicket of Shane Watson for 30.
Lee then accounted for Michael Dighton (69) with a short ball that beat him for pace edging to Nathan Pilon behind the stumps. He finished with the wicket of Andrew Downton late in the day, caught by Mark Waugh at second slip.
Lee's new-ball partner Nathan Bracken bowled well without luck, beating the bat time and again to finish with 1 for 47 from his 29 overs which including 16 maidens.
Tasmania's made steady progress after Dan Marsh opted to bat first. Scott Mason, the opener, made a painstaking 51 in almost four hours. Dighton and Daniel Marsh added 73 for the fifth wicket and prevented a middle-order collapse. Dighton cracked 13 fours in his 135-ball innings.