A pair of centuries from Cameron Green and Cameron Bancroft ensured Western Australia fought out a well-earned draw in their Marsh Sheffield Shield clash against Tasmania at Blundstone Arena this afternoon.
Green, Bancroft star in high-scoring draw
The four-day game at Bellerive Oval was called off early on Monday afternoon with WA 2-242 in their second innings. Third-placed WA expect they will now need to win their final two matches to make the Shield final.
Bancroft finished on 100 not out, anchoring the visitors with his 205-ball innings, while Green brought up his ton with a six and a three off successive balls and was unbeaten on 103 after hitting 11 fours and a six in his 142-ball knock.
It was an encouraging hand from Green, playing in a rare Shield game for his state, with the 24-year-old's next assignment to come in the Test series opener against the Black Caps in Wellington from February 29.
The allrounder, who was recently recalled into the Test No.4 spot, had not scored a first-class ton since his maiden Test century in Ahmedabad in March last year.
"It’s a bit of a luxury to play with Cam," said Bancroft, this season's standout Shield batter with 692 runs at 57.66.
"He's obviously flying around the world playing for Australia. He's a quality player, he played really nicely today.
"He got a bit more flow into his batting the longer the innings went on I thought. I'm sure he'll be really pleased with that and hopefully it's something he can carry forward into New Zealand."
The two Camerons came together with WA 2-86 after losing opener Sam Whiteman (28) and No.3 Jayden Goodwin (5) in quick succession.
While it wasn't quite a crisis, the visitors needed a solid partnership to stay out of trouble on the last day, and Bancroft and Green delivered.
A rain-hit final day of the Victoria-NSW match at the SCG ensured the Tigers remained top of the standings ahead of the second-placed Vics, who were just two wickets away from a win that would have sent them to the top of the table.
Western Australia (32.49 points) remain in third position on the Shield ladder, trailing top-of-the-table Tasmania (38.96) and second-placed Victoria (36.94) with two matches remaining.
WA's next assignment comes against Queensland at the WACA Ground, starting Friday March 1.