Bird winds back the clock as forgotten batsman sends selection reminder in latest Shield round

The fourth round of fixtures for the 2024/25 Sheffield Shield season are complete with three games taking place in recent days.

The first game to finish took place at Karen Rolton Oval in Adelaide with South Australia going down in a heavy innings and 1-run defeat to New South Wales.

After winning the toss and electing to bat, the South Australians – who were without Nathan McSweeney, Travis Head and Alex Carey - were skittled for 110 and it was former Aussie quick Jackson Bird who did the damage with 7/46.

In reply, NSW put up 394, with every batter from number one to nine scoring at least 19 runs. Kurtis Patterson top scored in the innings with 71, while Sam Konstas managed just 28.

Behind by 284, it was always going to be tough for the SACAs, with Jake Lehmann’s 100 getting them to 283, two runs short of making the visitors bat again. Bird finished with figures of 11/111 for the match.

The next match to finish took place at the Junction Oval with Victoria knocking off the previously undefeated West Australians by eight wickets.

Skipper Peter Handscomb won the toss and chose to bowl, and the home team backed up his call by rolling WA for 167 before making 373 in their response with the bat.

No WA batters could pass 36 in the first innings with Fergus O’Neill (3/43) and Todd Murphy (4/37) doing the damage.

In response, the Vics had seven batters pass 25 with Tom Rogers (76) and Xavier Crone (62 not out) the standouts. While WA would make 325 in their second dig thanks to 119 not out by Joel Curtis, they could only set a target of 122 for the Victorians in the fourth innings which they passed two down.

O’Neill was named Player of the Match as he finished with figures of 6/99 from 42 overs.

The final game to finish took place at Allan Border Field with Queensland holding Tasmania to a draw.

After winning the toss and choosing to bowl, Queensland couldn’t back up their decision in the field as Tasmania piled on 461 as both Jake Weatherald (186) and Jake Doran (101) passed triple figures.

In response, the home side put together 291 with Matt Renshaw (121) making the bulk of those runs.

After batting again, Queensland ensured the match finished in a draw at 5/225 – 55 runs ahead of Tasmania who didn’t get a chance to bat twice.

Victoria sits on top of the table but are equal on wins with both WA and South Australia who also find themselves 2-1-1 after four games this season.