NSW hold on for draw against Victoria

New South Wales showed incredible discipline and tactical acumen to deny winless Victoria a critical Sheffield Shield victory at North Sydney Oval.

The Blues, who resumed at 2-46 on Monday, were never in the hunt to reach their target of 468, but survived to finish at 8-256.

Always on the back-foot after Test discard Glenn Maxwell's magnificent first-innings 278, NSW went to extraordinary but successful lengths to keep their left handers away from Victorian left-arm spinner Jon Holland, who had footmarks to bowl into.

NSW went more than 61 overs and 122 runs between singles.

At one stage NSW played out 13 straight maidens despite there being huge gaps in the field.

"We tried to keep left-handers away from one particular end for as long as we could because we knew runs weren't an issue," NSW captain Moises Henriques told AAP.

"We wanted to make sure there was either two right handers or just one left-hander out there at all times."

Left-hander Kurtis Patterson top-scored with 61, with all but his first run coming through boundaries.

He could have finished with many more, but opted not to run when playing the ball into gaps.

Former Test opener and fellow left-hander Ed Cowan, who came in at number nine after Patterson was dismissed, was unbeaten on 40.

He batted out the last 20 overs with Trent Copeland, who soaked up 62 balls in scoring five.

"It was a nerve-wracking last two hours that's for sure," Cowan said.

The result keeping the Blues top of the ladder and the winless Bushrangers bottom.

It was a frustrating day for defending champions Victoria, who dropped some difficult catches.

While frustrated by the draw, Victoria captain Aaron Finch praised his team's effort and applauded the Blues execution of their strategy.

''It was a very clear plan and the right plan," Finch told AAP.

"Jon Holland bowling into that footmark to left-handers would have been extremely hard for them to keep that out, so they just kept the left-handers away from it.

"I thought it was a great tactic and we tried absolutely everything."

On occasions, Finch had every fielder within 15 metres of the bat and on another he didn't have anyone fielding in front of the wicket on the offside.

Patterson and nightwatchman Sean Abbott (47 off 175 balls) held up the Bushrangers for 31 overs in a fourth wicket stand of 74.

Holland and pacemen Scott Boland and Chris Tremain all took two wickets.

  

DAY THREE REPORT:

Victorian spinner Jon Holland has picked up where he left off at the end of the last Sheffield Shield season, to give his side a strong chance of outright victory against NSW in Sydney.

Set 468 for victory, the Blues were 2-46 at stumps on day three on Sunday, 422 runs from an improbable win.

Left-arm spinner Holland made the initial breakthrough, bowling Daniel Hughes with a fine delivery for 21 after the opener's first five scoring strokes were boundaries.

Chris Tremain bowled Nick Larkin for eight close to stumps.

Holland, in his first interstate appearance since last season's Sheffield Shield final, earlier took 5-67 off 33 overs, to help the Bushrangers to a 319-run first innings lead.

"Today it was my day," said Holland, who completed his five-wicket first innings haul after being handed the second new ball.

"I had surgery on my knee just two days before the first JLT one day (competition) so it's been pretty frustrating and disappointing not to play much cricket for Victoria this summer, but now it's good to be back and hopefully we can have a win," he added.

"The knee is feeling pretty good. I've done a lot of bowling in the nets leading up to this game to be right to play.

"I'm comfortable with where it's at, so hopefully tomorrow it feels good and I can get a few more overs."

The last time two-Test tweaker Holland played, he was named player of the Sheffield Shield final back in March after claiming eight wickets, including a career-best 7-82 against Tasmania in the first innings.

The Bushrangers batted for just 21 overs in their second innings, with captain Aaron Finch declaring at 3-148.

Opener Marcus Harris stared with a run a ball 62 and Finch blasted 43 in a spectacular 28-ball cameo.

Glenn Maxwell followed up his first innings 278 with 16.

NSW opening bowler Trent Copeland took 2-52.

Lower order batsman Steve O'Keefe scored a fluent unbeaten 50 to post the Blues top first innings score in their tally of 243.

   

"They are a quality bowling attack and Holland and the quicks did really well to restrict us to 243," O'Keefe said.

"They built up a lot of pressure and I think there was some good bowling combined with a couple of poor shots.

"We were a couple of hundred runs short, on the first innings, it certainly wasn't a 243 wicket."

NSW XI: Moises Henriques (c), Nic Maddinson, Dan Hughes, Kurtis Patterson, Nick Larkin, Ed Cowan, Peter Nevill, Stephen O'Keefe, Sean Abbott, Trent Copeland, Doug Bollinger.

Victoria XI: Aaron Finch (c), Marcus Harris, Travis Dean, Glenn Maxwell, Cameron White, Matthew Short, Seb Gotch, Peter Siddle, Chris Tremain, Jon Holland, Scott Boland.