Tasmania has a stranglehold on their Marsh Sheffield Shield clash against New South Wales, having established a whopping 301-run first innings lead in just over four sessions.
Sent in to bat by New South Wales, the Tigers began day two on 7-258 courtesy of handy contributions from Tim Paine (87) and Matthew Wade (57). A vital late-order cameo from Jackson Bird (54 off 54 balls) helped lift Tassie to 333 from 107.1 overs.
Having just notched his first-class high score with the bat, it would have taken some prophet to envision Bird was about to claim his best first-class figures with the ball.
Bird trapped Daniel Hughes and Daniel Solway lbw in the first over to reduce the visitors to 2-0, and things only went from bad to worse when he had Kurtis Patterson caught behind in the third over, leaving the Blues reeling at 3-0.
Jason Sangha (9) was able to provide some resistance with two boundaries, before both he and Nick Larkin (4) fell without a run being added, reducing NSW to 5-13.
Peter Nevill top-scored with 10 not out from 30 balls as the shell-shocked Blues limped to 9-32 from 19.3 overs, their lowest ever Sheffield Shield score. Sean Abott didn’t bat having left the field after splitting the webbing of his right hand yesterday.
Jackson Bird was the star of the show with a remarkable 7-18 from 10 overs, bettering his previous best of 7-45. Peter Siddle was tidy with 1-10 from 8, whilst Sam Rainbird chipped in with 1-4 from 1.3.
Interestingly, the home side opted against enforcing the follow-on despite their emphatic 301-run lead.