06/11/2008 10:22 PM
South Australian coach Mark Sorrell has described the Redbacks' three-wicket loss to Tasmania in their Weet-Bix Sheffield Shield encounter at Bellerive Oval on Thursday as a match they should have won.
Sorrell said the contest was an 'extremely disappointing result' for South Australia and identified parts of both his team's bowling and batting performance which were pivotal in handing victory over to the Tigers.
"It was a game of opportunities all the way through (and) unfortunately we weren't able to nail it after getting them 6-70-odd yesterday, which put us right in the good spot to win so it's an extremely disappointing result for us today," he lamented.
"I think our bowlers worked pretty hard, they got us to that point (with Tasmaina on 6-76) yesterday which was really positive we just weren't able to finish it off which is disappointing."
"If you wind it back a little bit, we missed some opportunities with the bat as well early on in the game ... another 50 runs might have made a big difference to the game obviously."
The Redbacks set Tasmania a modest target of 181 for victory on Wednesday but the hosts looked on the ropes when Pakistani import Younis Khan caught Luke Butterworth off the bowling of ex-Victorian Allan Wise.
That reduced the Tigers to 6-76 and although they recovered to be 6-140 at stumps on day three, Sorrell was still confident of bowling them out before scoring the 41 additional runs they required for the outright win on the final day.
"It worked quite well for us to have the bowlers get a good night's rest and come back today with the idea that if we could get an early one, which we did do, possibly maybe get a roll on but unfortunately that didn't happen," Sorrell surmised.
"Tim Paine (69 not out) played extremely well, so all credit to him."
South Australian quick Shaun Tait was characteristically erratic with the ball in the second innings taking two wickets and also conceding five wides, but Sorrell defended the 25-year-old and insisted he was on the right track.
"That's the way Shaun goes, he gives his all and he sends them down and sometimes they don't quite hit the target. But he got us that first wicket (on the fourth morning in Brett Geeves) which kicked us off nicely and unfortunately we weren't able to grab any more," Sorrell said.
"I think he's bowling pretty well from where he's come back into the game. Shaun's the type of bowler that's not always gonna get it exactly right but he's charging in for us and that's all we can ask so we're really happy with that."