Redbacks close in

A maiden first-class century to opener James Smith has South Australia closing in on first-innings points in its Sheffield Shield clash against Tasmania at Adelaide Oval on Wednesday.

After bowling the Tigers out for 236 in the over after lunch, the Redbacks' steady run chase gained momentum when Smith (116 runs) and Mark Cosgrove (46 not out) came together for an entertaining 78-run partnership.

At stumps on day two the home side are 4-225 with Cosgrove and Graham Manou (2) the overnight batsmen. They need a further 12 runs to pass Tasmania's total.

Jason Krejza got a good workout and has the pick of the bowling figures with 3-43 from 18 overs while Luke Butterworth was the other wicket taker.

After playing and missing a few Brett Geeves deliveries, Smith brought up his triple figure score with a single down to fine leg.

Smith, who turned 21 on Sunday, cracked 20 boundaries in his 189-ball stay at the crease. The knock smashes his previous best high score of 50 which he recorded against the Tigers last season.

A top-edge sweep shot off Krejza was his eventual downfall, the right hander ballooning a catch to Brett Geeves at fine leg.

Cosgrove's knock was overshadowed by his partner's innings but his 10 blazing boundaries were enough to get any Redbacks supporter salivating about the season ahead.

After a steady second session, Smith's innings flourished after tea.

He raced to his half century with successive boundaries, a cut shot through the off side and then a pull shot to the pickets.

The loss of fellow opener Daniel Harris, when the score was on 94, slowed the scoring momentarily. But he took a liking to Butterworth's bowling and cracked two straight drives off one over and then improved his 'wagon-wheel' with a hat-trick of boundaries in the all-rounder's next over.

In an instant he'd raced into the seventies and was looking good.

Michael Klinger was bowled after a short stint at the crease but the runs kept flowing with the introduction of Cosgrove.

It was another disappointing day for Tasmania which could only add 87 runs to its overnight score of 5-149.

Wicketkeeper Brady Jones made a neat 45 not out but overall the innings never got going. The Tigers' top five batsmen made starts but couldn't go in with while the highest partnership of the dig was 53.

The Tigers were in trouble when they slumped to 8-177, losing Krejza (zero), Geeves (seven) and Butterworth (20), early in the opening session.

But a 44-run stand between wicketkeeper Jones and Gerard Denton added some respectability to the scoreboard during an extended opening session.

Peter George, Chris Duval, Dan Christian and Cosgrove finished with two wickets each while Mark Cleary and O'Brien took wickets on the opening day.

107 overs were bowled on day two to make up the game-time lost on Tuesday.

Tasmania first innings 236
Cowan b Cleary 28
Wells b O'Brien 32
Doolan c Harris b Cosgrove 37
Bailey c Klinger b George 34
Marsh c Cooper b Duval 13
Butterworth c Smith b Christian 20
Krejza lbw Duval 0
Geeves lbw Christian 7
Jones not out 45
Denton lbw Cosgrove 11
MacDonald lbw George 2
Extras: 12 (nb 7, lb 5)
Total: 236 (10 wickets; 103 overs)
FoW: 1-44, 2-68, 3-121, 4-149, 5-149, 6-149, 7-176, 8-177, 9-221, 10-236

Bowling:George 26 - 9 - 65 - 1 (1nb)
Duval 25 - 9 - 39 - 2 (3nb)
Cleary 14 - 2 - 32 - 1
Christian 16 - 3 - 50 - 2 (1nb)
O'Brien 13 - 4 - 25 - 1
Cosgrove 9 - 2 - 20 - 2

South Australia first innings
Harris c Jones b Butterworth 29
Smith c Geeves b Krejza 116
Klinger b Krejza 3
Cosgrove not out 46
Cooper c Geeves b Krejza 11
Manou not out 2
Extras: 18 (nb 13, w 1, lb 4)
Total: 225 (4 wickets; 64 overs)
FoW: 1-94, 2-125, 3-203, 4-223

Bowling:Denton 13 - 2 - 58 - 0 (1w)
Geeves 13 - 0 - 48 - 0 (11nb)
MacDonald 10 - 2 - 31 - 0 (2nb)
Krejza 18 - 7 - 43 - 3
Butterworth 9 - 1 -39 - 1
Marsh 1 - 0 - 2 - 0