Some bad weather in Sydney on Sunday meant umpires had no choice but to call stumps early
Match Report:
ScorecardRain forces early end to second day at SCG
Paceman Trent Copeland reckons an outright victory is still a possibility for New South Wales in their Sheffield Shield clash against Tasmania despite the second day's play being ruined by persistent, heavy rain and with more showers forecast on Monday.
The Blues hold a 370-run lead after early stumps were drawn with the Tigers 1-79 in reply to NSW's 8(dec)-449.
Rain and bad light forced the players to come off the ground in the middle session to take an early tea, and no more play was possible in the evening session.
Stumps on day 2.
— NSW Blues (@CricketNSWBlues) February 25, 2018
A frustrating afternoon with rain and bad light forcing play to be abandoned early. 10AM start tomorrow.
Scorecards: https://t.co/YAMRsUEyGC #NSWvTAS #SheffieldShield pic.twitter.com/QzYsq2Powz
With further showers predicted on Monday, the third-placed Blues face a race against time in their pursuit of victory but Copeland hasn't given up hope.
"Our focus is still on getting a result and I know George Bailey is a very forward-thinking captain who will be thinking the same," said Copeland, who earlier in the day smacked 41 off 33 balls.
"During that middle period, there were numerous lbw shouts, nicks through the gaps and plays-and-misses.
"We'll have an extended day tomorrow and we'll just have to execute because for the most part it's a slow wicket."
Experienced opener Alex Doolan (nine) was the only Tasmanian batsman to fall, getting a leading edge off seamer Gurinder Sandhu to Nick Larkin in gully.
Skipper Bailey (34no) and Beau Webster (31no) are still in, having put on 61 for the second wicket to keep the NSW attack at bay.
"In years gone by, we might have lost 3-4 and fallen even further behind in the game after losing the top order," Webster said.
"We could have found ourselves in some strife but we got through relative unscathed."
Earlier, resurgent Moises Henriques (131no) and Copeland put their foot down as the Blues overcame the exits of captain Peter Nevill (five) and Steve O'Keefe (0) in the first two overs of the morning to add 57 to their overnight total in just 11.5 overs.
Tom Rogers (4-88) was the pick of the visitors' bowlers.
NSW BLUES: Larkin, Hughes, Cowan, Patterson, Henriques, Maddinson, Nevill (c), O'Keefe, Copeland, Sandhu, Conway, Stobo (12th).
TASMANIA: Webster, Doolan, Bailey (c), Doran, Wade, McDermott, Milenko, Freeman, Rogers, Rainbird, Fekete.