A FIERY spell from allrounder James Faulkner has left NSW staring down the barrel of an outright defeat in the Sheffield Shield match against Tasmania at Bellerive.

Faulkner ripped through the Blues’ top order late on day three to have the visitors struggling at 4-75, a lead of just 71, and with an injured Simon Katich needing to play one of the gutsiest innings of his career.

The Tigers left-armer, who was recently picked up at the IPL auction for $190,000, removed former Test stars Usman Khawaja (14) and Steve Smith (seven) as well as first innings runmaker Ben Rohrer with a brute of a ball to finish with figures of 3-34 from nine overs.

Faulkner’s efforts capped a good day for Tasmania, who claimed first innings points when they went past NSW’s total of 7(dec)-341 and immediately closed their own first dig at 7-345.

Source: Herald Sun