Honours even as Pomersbach, Lyon shine

Consistency in batting from Western Australia and a similar effort from South Australia's bowlers ensured that honours were even at the end of the opening day of their Sheffield Shield encounter at the WACA. Luke Pomersbach top-scored for the hosts with 82 and was backed up by steady contributions from the rest of the line-up, particularly the lower order, to set up 324.

However, the South Australia bowlers kept chipping away at the home team despite the batsmen getting starts and threatening to build substantial partnerships. Pomersbach added 71 with captain Marcus North, and 44 with Adam Voges but lost both to the offspin of Nathan Lyon, who, on first-class debut, finished with four wickets. Tom Beaton, Luke Ronchi and Michael Beer fell within a space of 18 runs but Nathan Coulter-Nile (46), along with No.10 and 11 Ryan Duffield and Michael Hogan, took the score past 300.

For South Australia, Lyon was supported by the seamers, Rob Cassell and Jake Haberfield, who shared five wickets. In their response, the visitors lost opener Daniel Harris early and ended the day on 15 for 1.