'I'm just annoyed the game is dead' - Peter Handscomb dejected as Victoria - South Australia game ends in a draw

In Australia, the domestic season kicked off with Sheffield Shield on 10th October 2019 between Victoria and South Australia. It was the season opener but the match came out with some surprising climax. The encounter that was scheduled to be played for five days ended as draw on day four.

A lot of fingers have been raised over the slow wicket of CitiPower Centre in St. Kilda. This encounter turned boring for the spectators because this Test saw a total of 1287 runs scored at a loss of only 12 wickets. On the opening day of the match, Victoria won the toss and elected to bat. Later on, Peter’s Handcomb declared the innings at 616 towards the fag end of day two. In return, South Australia revolted back with a mammoth total of 671 runs which is an all-time record total piled up against Victoria.

James Pattinson turned into an off-spinner; Peter Handscomb dejected

During the match, there came a moment when fast bowler James Pattinson turned into an off-spinner. He bowled it for the first time in his career. Victoria’s captain Peter Handscomb took a sly dig over South Australia and was disappointed by the decision of Travis Head to take the match towards its end, “I’m just annoyed the game is dead,” he said on Saturday evening.

“At the end of day three, we have two more sessions on Sunday that we have to play dead cricket. We’ll shake hands at tea and tell everyone ‘thanks for coming, sorry for such a boring game of Shield cricket’.” the skipper said as quoted by Yahoo Sport.

But a statement by Victoria’s captain has stated something that has caught the eyebrows of cricket fans when he said that Head would have declared way earlier if he really wanted a result. “He should have declared way earlier if he really wanted a result,” he added.

Match facts:

Nic Maddinson scored his double ton which was followed by the centuries of Marcus Harris and Will Pucovski. In the end, cameo partnership between Aaron Finch and Glen Maxwell took the scoreboard of Victoria to 616 runs.

The match ended when SA was at 671 runs at a loss of 6 wickets after captains of both the teams agreed to declare it as a draw. Tom Cooper, Alex Carey and Tom Andrews were the centurions among SA batting line-up.

Bat for 150 overs, thinking you'd run through a lesser opponent easly with 2 of the top 4 leading wicket takers from last season, plus one of the fastest test bowlers in your team. Didn't happen, got to take your medicine for underrating your opponent. Well played SA. https://t.co/7NJVVHdmk7

— Brad Hogg (@Brad_Hogg) October 13, 2019

No problem with a team batting that long Loz- however, you can’t assume that the opposition will come to the party because your plan to bowl them out twice failed. https://t.co/AZ9hzCQFJJ

— Jason Gillespie 🌱🌈 (@dizzy259) October 13, 2019

Any shield cricket for you this year Chris? Nah I’ll pass 👇🏻 pic.twitter.com/KUOMa88hrk

— Chris Lynn (@lynny50) October 13, 2019

Vic captain Peter Handscomb says today’s events at the Junction Oval were not a good reflection on the #SheffieldShield @abcgrandstand pic.twitter.com/nCuQYovO1j

— Alister Nicholson (@AlisterNicho) October 12, 2019

Victoria made 6/616 declared off 150 overs.

South Australia reach the same total also six wickets down off 15 more overs.

Batting, batting and more batting.#SheffieldShield #LifeIsAHighway

— Adam White (@White_Adam) October 13, 2019