Harper's maiden ton leads strong Vics recovery

Sam Harper's maiden first-class century in his first hit against a red ball this season helped Victoria surge back into their Marsh Sheffield Shield contest against South Australia on Monday.

Led by Harper's unbeaten 116, Victoria put on 170 for the final three wickets after they had resumed day three on 7-201, trailing by 132, at the Junction Oval.

Having reached 365 to eke out an unlikely 32-run first-innings lead, the hosts then reduced the Redbacks to 4-52 before they recovered to 5-151 at stumps.

Henry Hunt (73 not out) provided SA's main resistance as he helped increase their precarious advantage to 119 by the close of play.

Harper, who was 25 not out overnight, found strong support from No.9 Mitch Perry (35 off 71 balls) and debutant No.10 Todd Murphy (34 off 70), in 55 and 87-run stands respectively.

While Murphy's exit left the Vics nine wickets down with Harper still nine runs short of a first century in any domestic format, it led to the game's most exhilarating passage of play so far.

Harper, who has excelled in the KFC BBL for the Melbourne Renegades but not yet cemented a first-class spot with Victoria, scooped Dan Worrall and then upper-cut him over the slip cordon for back-to-back boundaries, before scampering a quick single to go from 91 to 100 in the space of four balls.

The 24-year-old said it was just the second time he had played the scoop shot – the stroke he has become known for in the BBL – in the Sheffield Shield.

Harper has been Victoria's keeper in the Marsh One-Day Cup but only got his chance to play his first four-day game of the season after first-choice keeper Seb Gotch injured a finger last week.

Given Victorian Premier Cricket has been made up exclusively of one-day games this summer due to the delayed start to the season, he had not faced a red ball in a competitive game leading into his comeback game.

"There's just been no red-ball cricket, so I've just been trying to work on all aspects of my game," Harper told cricket.com.au.

"I've probably had more opportunity in white-ball (matches) but I still love my red-ball cricket. I'm still aspiring to be a three-format player.

"Coming out of the BBL I felt in decent nick with the bat, so it was great to get a couple of chances to open the batting in the (Marsh Cup) one-dayers, it's probably the best place to bat.

"Your first first-class hundred is going to mean quite a bit to you, there's a lot of hours and a lot of dedication that goes into it. I was rapt."

After Harper's ton, the momentum of the match continued to go decisively against SA.

They slumped to 2-5 inside three overs in the afternoon session, with opener Jake Weatherald out lbw shouldering arms to Perry while first drop Liam Scott followed his first-innings duck by edging behind off Scott Boland for two.

Since being promoted to No.3 having impressed down the order in the Adelaide Shield bubble before Christmas, Scott has scored 47 runs at 7.83 and has failed to pass 20.

His more experienced teammates Travis Head (16) and Alex Carey (12) fared little better in SA's second dig with spinner Jon Holland trapping the former lbw, while the latter was caught at point reverse-sweeping the same bowler.

Harry Nielsen put on 77 with Hunt before Will Sutherland's ability to break through on good surfaces shone through as he beat Nielsen for pace and clean bowled him.

Hunt took 18 off one Perry over to pass fifty for the fifth time this season, and seemingly holds the key for SA on the final day.