Sheffield Shield final Day 3: Victoria vs NSW live updates, blog

Victoria hold all the cards in the Sheffield Shield final, and New South Wales will need everything to work in their favour if they are to come back into the game from a horrendous position. Join The Roar for live scores and coverage from the earlier time of 10am (AEDT).

Coming into the match, the two key factors for the home side appeared to be Marcus Harris at the top of the batting order, and their bowling attack doing the job they have done all season.

Over the course of the first two days, it’s been evident those predicting those factors as the key weren’t off the mark.

First, Harris came out and blazed away for 141 at the top of the order, guiding Victoria to a competitive 289 on a pitch which looked tough to bat on.

In reply, the Blues made it look even tougher to bat on as they crumbled in a heap for just 121, with both Peter Siddle and James Pattinson being as good as unplayable in leading the attack for the Vics.

It was one-way traffic for Victoria, who are already in the progress of setting a huge target at the end of the day’s play, which came early due to bat light.

That means there will be 98 overs today, and while the pitch has been tough to bat on (no one outside of Harris has scored a half-century), if the hosts can bat for most of the day, they will take their already more than 200 run lead to something over 400, which will be near on impossible to chase down on a pitch which is only going to break up and get tougher to bat on.

The Blues will need to wrap up the Victorian innings quickly, taking the nine remaining wickets at breakneck speed, then set about chasing, with Kurtis Patterson, Daniel Hughes and Nick Larkin – their three big guns throughout the regular season – all needing to fire for the Blues to be a chance of taking home the glory.

If they don’t, you could quite easily suggest Victoria already just about have this sewn up.

Preview by Scott Pryde.