Mennie claims five
02/13/2012 05:56:02 AM
A five-wicket haul from quick Joe Mennie put South Australia in a powerful position on day one of their Sheffield Shield contest with Victoria.
The Bushrangers were bowled out for 220 just after tea, as Mennie collected his second five-wicket haul in his debut season at Shield level to finish with impressive figures of 5-43, including eight maidens, off 21.1 overs.
It was a day to savour for the whole pace attack, as the Redbacks received some handy contributions from Chadd Sayers (2-47), Carl Tietjens (2-58) and Peter George (1-46).
Despite the strong efforts of their seamers, South Australia might be a little disappointed that they let Victoria off the hook after having them under the pump at 7-118.
A valiant 95-run partnership between Andrew McDonald (72) and Peter Siddle (41) helped lift Victoria out of the doldrums, while Rob Quiney (45) was also in the runs at the top of the order.
However South Australia will feel as though they are well on top and are a strong chance to play Victoria out of the game and, at least, take first innings points.