There was inexplicable bowling carnage at Adelaide Oval on Tuesday as 20 wickets fell on the opening day of the Sheffield Shield clash between South Australia and Tasmania, dismissed for just 194 runs between them in the first innings.
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The home side was all out first, for just 93 as Tasmanian quick Kieran Elliott snared career-best figures of 6-23.
South Australia had looked in decent shape at 2-72 but then lost a staggering 8-21 across a disastrous 13-over period.
But then South Australian seamer Brendan Doggett got in on the act, snaring three early wickets and six in total as Tasmania, runners up last season, lost 3-0 and were reduced to 6-35 in the final session.
Test all-rounder Beau Webster, back for his first bat since the successful tour of Sri Lanka, did his best to defy the constant falling of wickets but only made 27 before he was bowled by leg-spinner Lloyd Pope, who took two wickets in an over as Tassie inched to a first-innings lead, bowled out for 101.
The rout came after South Australia’s previous match against Western Australia finished inside two days with 34 wickets falling for just 376 runs.
Meanwhile at the Gabba, Western Australian spinner Corey Rocchiccioli destroyed the Queensland batting line-up, taking 7-54 to put his disappointment about missing the tour to Sri Lanka behind him.
Rocchiccioli was rated behind Todd Murphy in the line of potential successors to Test star Nathan Lyon despite being the leading tweaker in the Sheffield Shield this season.
The 27-year-old had 18 wickets going in to the clash with the Bulls, who were all out for 147, and his seven wickets catapulted him to 27 for the season.
The visitors then raced towards the Queensland total passing 100 without losing a wicket reaching 0-108 at stumps as opener Sam Fanning brought up a half-century in quick time.
Elsewhere, teenage prodigy Sam Konstas brought out his reverse ramp shot second ball against Test teammate Scott Boland at the SCG in a move labelled “unexplainable” by a former NSW coach as Australian great Adam Gilchrist cast doubt over whether his style could success at international level.
Coming off a sizzling one-day hundred for NSW, Konstas only lasted seven balls in his third Sheffield Shield innings since losing his place in the Test team in Sri Lanka the Blues were all out for 238 on the opening day of their clash with Victoria.
His second ball secured a boundary using the same shot which yielded spectacular results in his Test debut at the MCG when he took down Indian pace ace Jasprit Bumrah.
Konstas, 19, hit a more conventional drive down the ground for a second four, missed another reverse lap and then was bowled by Boland for 10 while walking across his stumps trying to hit him to the rope again as part of an early onslaught with opening partner Nic Maddinson.
Konstas goes cheaply after rogue shot | 00:43
The duo took down Boland and Fergus O’Neill for 30 runs in the opening 13 balls in a swashbuckling start to the SCG clash which caught former NSW coach Phil Jaques, who was in the commentary box, by surprise.
“It was unexplainable really. I don’t know what was going on,” Jaques said on the live stream.
“I think it (the reverse ramp) is a shot he practices a lot and he plays it pretty well in short-form cricket. But you’re seeing him play it all the time now and he’s getting out doing it, and losing that consistency of run-scoring … this kid makes hundreds and historically he hasn’t made them by scooping and slogging.
“It’s almost like he’s been a bit caught up in it all.”
Australian great Adam Gilchrist said “time will tell” if the style not only stands up in Test cricket, but impacts Konstas chances of opening the batting in the World Test Championship final.
“That’s the way he’s going about it, obviously,” Gilchrist said at a Kayo AFL launch on Tuesday.
“Time will tell whether it stands up, whether that’s going to be happening at Lord’s in a few months’ time.
“It’s a selection panel that’s thrown the rule book out the window, they get their ideas and they go with them. I’m sure he’ll still be in the frame.
“It has everyone talking … it’s the new age. It has to be good for the game.
“It’s up to him to work out – if he’s not being picked, if he’s not getting results … whether he changes that and tones it down a little bit.”
Boland’s revenge: Konstas’ best & worst | 01:54
Konstas has turned himself into an attacking opening weapon since his 60, off just 65 balls, on Test debut against India but with mixed results.
He only made a further 53 runs in three more innings against India, and then his Shield return for the Blues yielded scores of just three and 22.
Boland got his own back snaring 4-56 as NSW were reduced to 6-124 before Ollie Davies made 89 to help push his team to a respectable total.
The Vics slumped to 3-25 in reply before former Test opener Marcus Harris (33 not out) tried to mount a rescue, getting his team to 4-92 at stumps
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