\n
![\"Victoria](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/1753503308_17_placeholder.png\")
\n Victoria Men
\n VIC<\/p>\n
Steve Smith will enter the Ashes with a century and two scores above 50 for NSW, but the Blues were beaten by 300 runs by Victoria at the SCG<\/p>\n
NSW v Victoria | Sheffield Shield | Day 3<\/p>\n
Steve Smith is averaging more than 100 this summer before heading into the Ashes, but his half-century on Wednesday couldn’t save NSW from a 300-run Sheffield Shield defeat to Victoria.<\/p>\n
On a dramatic third day at the SCG where both Josh Hazlewood and Sean Abbott left the ground for hamstring scans, NSW were all out for 125 chasing 425 for victory.<\/p>\n
Hazlewood has since been cleared for the first Test but Abbott is out of contention, with their issues just nine days out from Ashes opener in Perth overshadowing NSW’s woes.<\/p>\n
But by the end of Wednesday, NSW had still been convincingly beaten inside three days, after being bowled out twice in a combined 89.3 overs for the match.<\/p>\n
Sam Elliott picked up three wickets for Victoria to go with his maiden five-wicket haul in the first innings, while Fergus O’Neill bowled well for his 2-22.<\/p>\n
But what can’t be denied is the form Smith will enter next week’s first Test in, as he prepares to captain Australia in the absence of the injured Pat Cummins.<\/p>\n
Smith’s unbeaten 56 on Wednesday means he now has scores of 118, 57 and 56no to start the summer for NSW after returning from an extended holiday in America.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Smith brings out classic shots in lone hand for NSW<\/p>\n
While he flourished with the drive in the first innings on Tuesday, the bulk of his runs came square of the wicket and behind it as he played a lone hand on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
Steve Smith looks in good touch heading to Perth.<\/p>\n
There was still one big six down the ground off Todd Murphy, when he lifted the finger-spinner over long off.<\/p>\n
But while Smith again looked in good shape, Sam Konstas’ 27 in the fourth innings made him the only other Blue to pass 20 in the match.<\/p>\n
On a pitch with plenty of variable bounce, six Blues were either bowled or trapped lbw as Will Sutherland also claimed 2-37 and Scott Boland 1-24.<\/p>\n
Earlier, Abbott took three wickets in six balls before suffering his injury at the end of a five-over spell.<\/p>\n
The seamer bowled Todd Murphy and Peter Handscomb in the same over, before Oliver Peake edged a ball back onto his own stumps in Abbott’s next over.<\/p>\n
Unsighted Smith adds Shield screamer to highlight reel<\/p>\n
Hazlewood also had Sam Harper caught on the pull shot, before reporting some tightness to Smith and leaving the field for scans.<\/p>\n
“Coming into this game, we knew it was going to be a big challenge,” Victoria coach Chris Rogers said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“It’s almost one of those games where you’re playing against a bit of a superstar team. If you lose, that’s okay. It could be a good health check to see where you are.<\/p>\n
“But to come out and play with such a dominant performance, I think it gives our changing room such a lift.”<\/p>\n
Sheffield Shield 2025-26 standings<\/p>\n
Team<\/p>\n
\n Matches played\n <\/p>\n
M<\/p>\n
\n Wins\n <\/p>\n
W<\/p>\n
\n Losses\n <\/p>\n
L<\/p>\n
\n Drawn\n <\/p>\n
D<\/p>\n
\n No results\n <\/p>\n
N\/R<\/p>\n
\n Deductions\n <\/p>\n
Ded.<\/p>\n
\n Batting Bonus\n <\/p>\n
Bat<\/p>\n
\n Bowling Bonus\n <\/p>\n
Bowl<\/p>\n
\n Total points\n <\/p>\n
PTS<\/p>\n
1
\n
\n Victoria Men
\n VIC<\/p>\n
4
\n 4
\n 0
\n 0
\n 0
\n 0
\n 4.14
\n 3.6
\n 31.74<\/p>\n
2
\n
\n Queensland Bulls
\n QLD<\/p>\n
3
\n 1
\n 0
\n 2
\n 0
\n 0
\n 4.9
\n 2.3
\n 15.2<\/p>\n
3
\n
\n NSW Men
\n NSW<\/p>\n
4
\n 1
\n 2
\n 1
\n 0
\n 0
\n 1.55
\n 3.7
\n 12.25<\/p>\n
4
\n
\n South Australia Men
\n SA<\/p>\n
4
\n 1
\n 2
\n 1
\n 0
\n 0
\n 1.3
\n 3.6
\n 11.9<\/p>\n
5
\n
\n Tasmanian Tigers Men
\n TAS<\/p>\n
4
\n 1
\n 2
\n 1
\n 0
\n 2
\n 1.72
\n 3.2
\n 9.92<\/p>\n
6
\n
\n Western Australia Men
\n WA<\/p>\n
3
\n 0
\n 2
\n 1
\n 0
\n 0
\n 0.66
\n 3
\n 4.66<\/p>\n
Legend<\/p>\n
M: Matches played<\/p>\n
W: Wins<\/p>\n
L: Losses<\/p>\n
D: Drawn<\/p>\n
N\/R: No results<\/p>\n
Ded.: Deductions<\/p>\n
Bat: Batting Bonus<\/p>\n
Bowl: Bowling Bonus<\/p>\n
PTS: Total points<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Steve Smith will enter the Ashes with a century and two scores above 50 for NSW, but the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":279447,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[564],"tags":[64,63,740,85,83],"class_list":["post-279446","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cricket","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-cricket","tag-sports","tag-text"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/279446","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=279446"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/279446\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/279447"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=279446"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=279446"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=279446"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}