New South Wales gained a sweet slice of revenge by crushing Western Australia by eight wickets inside three days in the Sheffield Shield match at the WACA ground in Perth.
The Blues were left licking their wounds in February when they lost to the Warriors by an innings and 323 runs in Perth.
Warriors opener Liam Davis cracked an unbeaten 303 in that match and caused the Blues some nervy moments on Thursday, as he made his way to 73 in the Warriors' second innings.
But it was to no avail, as the Warriors were bowled out for 248 just before tea on day three, leaving the Blues with a meagre victory target of 108.
And with increasing showers forecast for the fourth and final day on Friday, the Blues made sure they knocked off the runs swiftly.
Opener Peter Nevill (65 not out) and Nic Maddinson (30) were the main contributors as the visitors finished at 2 for 108 in 24.1 overs.
Blues paceman Trent Copeland, who returned figures of 2 for 54 and 4 for 57, was named man-of-the-match.
"He (Copeland) summed up conditions really well," Blues captain Michael Clarke told Grandstand.
"We knew in every innings there was enough there at the start of the day, a bit of seam movement and he just bowled well in the conditions, he bowled in the right area."
Despite losing the likes of Phillip Hughes, Usman Khawaja, Nathan Hauritz, Simon Katich, Brett Lee and Phil Jaques last summer, the Blues encountered few problems in their season-opening trip to Perth.
Clarke scored 78 in the Blues' first innings total of 358, with Moises Henriques (78) and Steve O'Keefe (74) also producing important knocks.
Left-arm paceman Doug Bollinger collected 3 for 55 in the Warriors' first innings, while Copeland ripped through the home side's top order in the second innings.
Copeland, who played three Tests for Australia last year, snared the scalps of Marcus Harris (10), Marcus North (11) and Mitch Marsh (10) to leave the Warriors in all sorts of trouble at 4 for 68.
Davis, who cracked 12 fours and two sixes, and former Tasmania wicketkeeper Tom Triffitt (51) put up stiff resistance for the Warriors, while Mitchell Johnson (28) and Nathan Rimmington (43 not out off 54 balls) provided some fireworks at the death.
But the Warriors' total was not nearly enough to trouble the Blues, who next take on Tasmania in a Shield clash at Bankstown Oval, starting Wednesday.
Johnson, who returned figures of 2 for 88 in the first innings, could not get a breakthrough on Thursday as he finished with 0 for 16 from four overs.
Warriors batsman Adam Voges injured his back while fielding on Wednesday and could be in doubt for the Shield encounter against Victoria in Perth starting September 30.
AAP
Tags: cricket, sport, perth-6000, sydney-2000 First posted September 20, 2012 20:47:59
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