Hoekstra stars on debut as Test hopefuls miss chance with the bat

Victoria debutant Harry Hoekstra starred with the bat and then took an early wicket even as a host of Test hopefuls failed to take an opportunity with the bat on the opening day of the Sheffield Shield season at the Junction Oval.

Campbell Kellaway, Peter Handscomb and Ollie Peake all missed out as Victoria slumped to 173 for 8 against South Australia having been sent into bat on a surface that did not present too many demons despite an even covering of live green grass. But Hoekstra rescued them by making 45 from 122 deliveries before he finally holed out to deep point to end Victoria's innings on 244. He then had Jake Weatherald caught behind for a duck with a peach of a delivery in his first over in Shield cricket to leave the reigning champions 4 for 1 at stumps.

South Australia seamers Henry Thornton and Brendan Doggett bagged three wickets apiece but with the exception of Handscomb, most of Victoria's batters found a way to get themselves out on a surface that was pretty slow and placid once the shine came off the new ball.

But Hoekstra and Doug Warren dug in, proving the surface had no major tricks in it. The pair survived more than 29 overs to post a 62-run stand that saw Victoria reach the second new ball without further loss.

There will be some frustration among Victoria's batters that a 20-year-old debutant at No. 9 could survive for so long against the back-to-back Shield-winning attack given South Australia's quicks did not bowl all that well to take their ten wickets.

Doggett's first wicket came when Kellaway clipped a half-volley on leg stump straight to forward square. Marcus Harris fell pushing hard at Noah McFadyen to become his first scalp on Shield debut. McFadyen had a second when Handscomb was adjudged lbw to a ball that nipped sharply off the seam. Handscomb had looked excellent for his 24 from 29 balls and was well out of his crease when he was hit on the pad.

Peake, who entered at No. 4, looked equally at ease caressing six boundaries in his 32. He played some sumptuous drives on the up and was hardly troubled as South Australia's quicks failed to get much seam movement or bounce in the second hour of the first session. Matt Short also thumped several drives on the up down the ground as scoring came a good rate. Short raced to 31 from 35 balls, including six boundaries, but after a 51-run stand with Peake he inexplicably pulled Thornton straight down deep squares throat.

Peake then had a brain-fade on the stroke of lunch when he appeared to premeditate a leave trying to get to the break and let a full straight delivery from Thornton hit his off stump flush three-quarters of the way up.

Fergus O'Neill became the fourth Victoria batter to fall between 24 and 32 when he edged a yorker-length offbreak from Ben Manenti to slip.

Wicketkeeper Liam Blackford, also on debut after receiving his Victoria cap from former Australia and Victoria captain Aaron Finch, batted nicely for his 27 before he fell to a stunning bit of fielding from Nathan McAndrew. Blackford thumped a straight drive to McAndrew's right in his follow through and took two steps forward to run. McAndrew stuck his right hand out to stop it and throw in the one motion and he hit before Blackford had time to dive back.

South Australia looked set to bowl Victoria out for under 200 with over a session left in the day when Thornton bagged his third but the ninth-wicket stand caused headaches and they looked pretty ineffective against the tail for nearly a session, albeit they dropped two chances.

Weatherald's first day back in South Australia Shield colours did not end well when he fell 12 balls into a nasty nine-over session before stumps. The left-armer Hoekstra angled in and shaped away to scratch the left-hand batter's outside edge as he continues to try and bed down the technical changes that in part caused his exile from the Test side.

SA were very nearly two-down at stumps when Henry Hunt attempted a risky single to Peake at point. Had he hit Mackenzie Harvey would have been out having given up on the run halfway down.