Copeland and Warner leave South Australia bruised

New South Wales 5 for 153 (Warner 83) lead South Australia 92 (Copeland 6-24) by 61 runs

David Warner mastered the pink ball and a grassy pitch better than any other batsman on day one to put New South Wales in a powerful position against South Australia in the floodlit Sheffield Shield match at Adelaide Oval.

SA captain Travis Head chose to bat first on a surface likely to be quite similar to the one prepared for the second Ashes Test in early December, but the hosts were routed by Trent Copeland’s wobbly seamers after the higher velocity pair of Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins had fired down new ball spells for NSW.

Copeland’s incisions began with home captain Callum Ferguson and ended with the wicketkeeper Alex Carey, who was left stranded in his efforts to push for a Test berth by the rapid fall of wickets at the other end. Jake Weatherald was the most fluent of the SA batsmen but threw his hand away when he cut airily at Cummins and was well taken by Nathan Lyon at backward point.

In reply, NSW were momentarily stunned when Daniel Worrall outsmarted Nic Maddinson into leaving a ball that swerved back to hit the top of middle stump, and Chadd Sayers followed up with a skilful sequence of deliveries that squared up the Australian captain Steven Smith and then pinned him lbw. However, Warner, who was edged precisely between second and third slips early on, found the boundary with enough regularity to put the visitors into the lead, before Daniel Hughes and Peter Nevill made starts they will hope to build upon on day two.

Source: ESPN Crickinfo

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