Victoria play out a draw

ESPNcricinfo staff

New South Wales 416 (Jaques 129, Siddle 6/89) & 5 for 296 decl (Jaques 125, Maxwell 2/52) drew with Victoria 263 (Quiney 66, Copeland 4/76) & 4 for 252 (Wade 77*, Copeland 2/40)
Scorecard

Victoria batted out the day to ensure a draw against current table-toppers New South Wales, at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. New South Wales declared on their overnight score of 5 for 296, leaving Victoria with a highly improbabe victory target of 450. The hosts were 4 for 252 when play was called off with seven overs remaining.

Victoria were in ultra defensive mode for first two sessions, going into tea with the scoreboard reading 4 for 115 at a run rate of 1.82. The strategy worked reasonably well, seemingly tiring out a weakened attack - New South Wales were without captain Stuart Clark in the second innings, due to a heel injury.

In the post-tea session New South Wales changed gears and attacked the spinners, with Matthew Wade and Robert Quiney stringing together an unbeaten 143-run partnership in 30.1 overs. His knock of 67 not out puts Quiney at the top of the tournament's run-scorers table. NSW take two points from the match.