Moises Henriques, the skipper of New South Wales, displayed toughness against a weakened Western Australia bowling assault after the speedy Matt Kelly’s unfortunate pectoral muscle mishap stripped his comeback to cricket. NSW battled hard on day two of a Sheffield Shield contest at Perth’s WACA ground after a poor start and Henriques took the lead, showing incredible 95 runs off 210 balls. Regardless of Henriques’s best effort, NSW finished the close of play standing 12 runs behind and with three wickets in hand, amassing 244 for 7.
Seeking his first Shield century of the season, Henriques underpinned the innings well until he was controversially deemed lbw just short of the milestone. His alliance with allrounder Jack Edwards who played a crucial role with his bat stabilized the NSW ship which struggled against the probing spells of Joel Paris and Corey Rocchiccioli.
Western Australia’s bowling stocks were further dinted when Kelly suffered an injury setback, enabling them with only limited resources on a difficult wicket. The washout also continued the woes for the absence of allrounders Cameron Green and Aaron Hardie, as WA failed to continue pressure on NSW batters.
Underlying tensions boiled near the day’s end when WA petitioned for obstructing the field after an incident where Stobo and Chris Green became entangled, but the umpires deemed Green’s actions within the rules, enabling play to carry on.
While Paris and Kelly were impressive, NSW survived the storm as Henriques and Edwards stepped up the fight back against a disciplined WA bowling side. The match is in a balance, both teams prepared for an exciting battle on the following days of play.
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