Rain thwarts Victoria in rain-hit final day against Blues

Bad light and then rain have cruelly thwarted Victoria's hopes of claiming top spot on the Marsh Sheffield Shield standings on the final day of their contest with New South Wales in Sydney.

A win would have sent the Vics above Tasmania with two games to play and put them in pole position to host the final, but the Blues hung on for a draw with two wickets in hand after no play was possible in the final two sessions at the SCG.

The players left the field about noon on Monday and did not return, with NSW 8-116 and needing another 86 runs to make Victoria bat again.

Rain had also ended play early on day three at the SCG.

Test seamer Scott Boland starred with 5-41 and took eight wickets for the match, pushing his case for a recall when Australia's first Test against New Zealand gets underway in Wellington next week.

Will Sutherland's men travel to Hobart to face the Tigers from March 1 for a penultimate match that will be hugely consequential for the entire competition, with just 2.02 points now separating the top two teams.

NSW, who had turned their Shield campaign around with three wins from their previous four games, remain in the final hunt in fourth spot, behind WA.

The home side resumed their second innings on 3-40 and Victoria snared five more wickets before rain forced an early lunch and ultimately ended the match.

Ahead of his departure for the two-Test series against the Black Caps, Nathan Lyon played a crucial innings for NSW to hold Victoria at bay before the weather intervened.

The No.8 faced 47 balls in tough conditions to make an unbeaten 17, while opener Sam Konstas top-scored with 35 before he was Boland's fifth victim.

Despite going frustratingly close to a win and top spot, there was a significant highlight out of the match for Victoria.

Will Pucovski returned to the Shield team and top-scored with 131 - his first ton in the competition since November 2020.

Sheffield Shield 2023-24 standings

Team	Matches played M	Wins W	Losses L	Drawn D	No results N/R	Deductions Ded.	Batting Bonus Bat	Bowling Bonus Bowl	Total points PTS
1 Western Australia Men WA	10	5	2	3	0	0	5.53	9.4	47.93
2 Tasmanian Tigers Men TAS	10	5	2	3	0	0	6.06	8.3	47.36
3 NSW Men NSW	10	4	3	3	0	0	6.31	9	42.31
4 Victoria Men VIC	10	4	4	2	0	0	4.74	8.2	38.94
5 South Australia Men SA	10	3	6	1	0	0	5.19	9.3	33.49
6 Queensland Bulls QLD	10	2	6	2	0	0	3.54	8.3	25.84

Legend

M: Matches played

W: Wins

L: Losses

D: Drawn

N/R: No results

Ded.: Deductions

Bat: Batting Bonus

Bowl: Bowling Bonus

PTS: Total points