A magnificent five-wicket haul from Test spearhead Mitchell Johnson has led Western Australia to a thrilling 25-run victory over Tasmania at the WACA in their season-opening Sheffield Shield clash.
FINAL SCORECARD
A magnificent five-wicket haul from Test spearhead Mitchell Johnson has led Western Australia to a thrilling 25-run victory over Tasmania at the WACA in their season-opening Sheffield Shield clash.
Johnson took 5-69 in the Tigers' second innings, including three scalps in three overs in a superb spell with the second new ball, to see the defending champions fall just short of their target of 408.
Tasmania appeared poised to break the record for the largest successful fourth-innings run chase in Shield cricket at the WACA when they were 4-320 early in the final session with captain George Bailey well-established after reaching his century.
But Johnson turned the game on its head as the Tigers lost their last six wickets for just 62 runs to be all out for 382 with Bailey's 116 and former Test skipper Ricky Ponting's 87 not enough to prevent them from falling short.
The 29-year-old, playing in his first home Shield game for his adopted state, dismissed James Faulkner, Bailey and Tom Triffitt within 21 minutes as he warmed up perfectly for Australia's tour of South Africa which he was scheduled to leave for straight after the game.
Matt Dixon (1-96), Michael Hogan (2-110) and Michael Beer (2-89) then cleaned up the tail with 10.5 overs left to see the Warriors win a season-opening clash outright for the first time since 2008-09 thanks in large part to man-of-the-match Adam Voges' 150 not out in the second innings.
Johnson's spell undid the previous hard work of Bailey, Ponting and Mark Cosgrove (50), which had put the Tigers in the box seat before they lost 3-9 at one stage.
The victory completed an incredible turnaround for WA who were bowled out for 176 in their first innings on the first day but fought back to trail by just 30 on first innings and reached a massive second innings total of 4-437 declared.
The visitors were trying to achieve a mammoth task, as a successful run chase would have been the sixth largest in Shield history and it proved too much.
Bailey and Ponting rescued Tasmania's chase from disarray at 2-17, putting on 139 runs for the third wicket while the captain combined with Cosgrove to add 68 and Faulkner for a 96-run stand.
But Johnson's dismissal of Faulkner for 35 shortly after tea, thanks to a brilliant close-range catch from Marcus Harris, shifted the momentum of the game.
Bailey then edged a Johnson delivery to Marcus North, ending his five-and-a-half hour innings, and later in the over the Warriors took control when Triffitt fell for a duck.
Dixon, who struggled for much of the second innings, then trapped Xavier Doherty lbw before Hogan had Ben Hilfenhaus caught in the slips and Luke Butterworth's dismissal after a gallant 34 ended the game for the Tigers, who have to settle for first innings points.
