Twin centuries from Whiteman and Hardie edge WA closer to glory

Western Australia have one hand on the Sheffield Shield trophy after centuries from Sam Whiteman and Aaron Hardie took the game away from Victoria on the fourth day at the WACA ground in Perth.

With WA only needing a draw to secure the title after claiming the bonus point lead on day three, Whiteman produced a superb display of concentration and determination to blunt the visitors for more than three sessions and found able support from Hardie, who produced an outstanding century, to push WA's lead to a nearly unassailable 393 with four wickets in hand and a day to play.

Whiteman batted 500 minutes for his 123 from 338 balls, to go with his 85 in the first innings. He became the second WA player to face more than 500 balls in a Shield final after Mike Veletta did it in 1987.

Hardie showed his blossoming all-round talents, adding his second Shield century to his three crucial wickets in Victoria's first innings.

The pair produced a brilliant 184, the highest sixth-wicket partnership for WA in a Shield final after coming together at a critical point in the first session. WA had crawled along to 5 for 110, with a lead of just 190, after the fall of Teague Wyllie and Josh Philippe in quick succession.

But Whiteman's disciplined leaving and Hardie's obdurate defence wore down Victoria's attack across more than 62 overs on a warm afternoon.

Whiteman hardly made a mistake, having already batted the final session of the third day. Scott Boland, Will Sutherland and Mitchell Perry threw everything at him but his judgement of length was superb. He also played the spin of Jon Holland and Matthew Short with similar discipline and assured footwork. He sweated on anything short and wide unfurling cuts and late cuts behind point in between long periods of leaving and defending.

He brought his century off 268 balls with a late cut off Holland. It was ninth in first-class cricket and his eighth Shield century. It was also his sixth ton in the last four seasons since becoming a full-time top order batter, having started his career in WA as a specialist wicketkeeper-batter before a bad finger injury forced him to abandon the gloves.

Hardie overcame a nervous start and survived a close lbw shout off Sutherland just after lunch. The umpire deemed it just going over the top after the ball hit the back thigh in line with off. He also edged Holland from over the wicket, but the ball brushed the gloves of keeper Sam Harper and fell short of Peter Handscomb at slip.

But the longer he went, the tighter his defence became and the better his driving was off both feet. He hit the spinners powerfully wide of mid off from both the front and back foot and produced a couple of sparkling straight drives, including one to bring his century in fine style.

Victoria bowled well throughout the day and deserved better than their returns. They ground WA to a halt in the morning session thanks to Boland and Sutherland. WA scored just three runs in the first nine overs of the day and only 43 in the first 30 overs before lunch. The slow scoring and the dual breakthroughs gave Victoria hope that they could bowl WA out and chase down a target of under 300.

Wyllie, who scored just 23 off 86 balls, edged Perry to slip prodding a forward defence at a ball he could have left. Handscomb held yet another catch to add to his record season tally. Shortly after, Philippe played a loose shot to Holland, chipping him to cover for 1.

But they failed to make another breakthrough until the final hour when Whiteman finally made an error in judgement and lost his off stump shouldering arms to Sutherland.

Hardie and Joel Paris saw WA to stumps without further loss and only a miraculous final day chase from Victoria would deny them a first Shield title in 23 years.