Western Australia's win heaps the pressure on the NSW Blues who need to force a result or bow out
Battle ground set for Shield final race
The second of this summer’s JLT Sheffield Shield finalists will be decided on the last day of the regular season with Western Australia's rout of Queensland piling the pressure on NSW.
WA finished off the Bulls late in the Perth twilight on Friday evening and the outright win saw them leapfrog NSW into second place, leaving the Blues with destiny in their own hands for their final day of action against Tasmania at Hobart's Blundstone Arena.
The winner will play Victoria at Junction Oval from Thursday, and they are well placed to wrap up an outright win against South Australia as they fine tune for the final.
Tasmania’s weather could also have a massive role to play on Saturday, with the 90 per cent chance of rain forecast in Hobart set to interfere with NSW’s push for victory.
The Bureau of Metrology is anticipating about 5mm of rain in Hobart on Saturday, with showers most likely to arrive in the afternoon.
The Warriors have done all they can by beating the Bulls, and must now wait and watch to see if their season will be extended by a week. WA must rely on NSW not winning at Blundstone Arena – a draw will not be enough for the Blues to overtake WA.
As it stands after WA's result, and with the first-innings bonus points from the current round factored in, the Warriors on 43.9 points hold a 3.18 point lead over NSW on 40.72.
Victoria are way out in front on 51.98 points. Given a draw is worth one point and an outright win worth six, nothing less than victory in Hobart will do for the Blues to reach the final.
"We're not there yet, but we've played some really good cricket over the last three weeks," WA captain Mitchell Marsh said on Friday evening.
"We have fought extremely hard and we've given ourselves a chance. Hopefully things go our way tomorrow.
"I reckon we'll sit around and watch the live stream somewhere and just hope that Tassie can bat out the day for us."
NSW hold a 269-run lead over Tasmania and would be expected to declare early on Saturday morning in order to push for victory on a day where 112 overs are scheduled to make up for time already lost to weather in the match.
The Warriors haven’t reached a Shield final since 2014-15, which they lost to the Vics, while NSW’s most recent final was the previous year when they beat WA in the final at Manuka Oval.
This season represents 20 years since WA last won the Shield title.
Saturday’s Shield action can be live streamed on cricket.com.au and the CA Live app