Chandrasinghe in rare air after epic Shield final knock

Regardless of its influence on the outcome of the ongoing Marsh Sheffield Shield final, Victoria opener Ashley Chandrasinghe's epic innings will live on in statistical folklore.

In posting an unbeaten 46 from 280 balls faced while occupying the crease for 400 minutes in Victoria's first innings of 195 against Western Australia, Chandrasinghe became just the second player to carry his bat in a Shield final since the play-off was introduced 40 years ago.

The other is ex-Tasmania batter and former national selector Jamie Cox whose 115no off a comparable 267 balls came at the same venue in 1997-98, when WA ultimately secured a seven-wicket win.

But Chandrasinghe's knock will endure as even more remarkable given the circumstances in which it came, as well as the frugality of its return.

The lithe left-hander was set to be excluded from Victoria's starting XI for this game, but won a reprieve on the morning of the final after fellow opener Travis Dean failed to recover from a shoulder injury sustained in a pre-game training drill.

Chandrasinghe ended day one unbeaten on 46 (off 266 deliveries with four boundaries) and did not add to that tally despite facing a further 14 balls this morning, as Victoria's final two wickets fell inside six overs.

His occupation sent cricket statisticians scurrying for benchmarks, with ABC Radio analyst Ric Finlay revealing the 21-year-old's effort stands alone as the slowest 46 scored in the 130-year history of the Shield in which relevant data is available.

The previous 'record' belonged to Queensland opener Bryce Street whose 203-ball innings (in 285 minutes) was also posted in a Shield final – against New South Wales at Allan Border Field two summers ago.

Chandrasinghe's stay – which included an entire session between lunch and tea yesterday when he scored just five runs from 74 balls faced – also represents the first time in 90 years an opener has carried his bat through a Shield innings without reaching 50.

The lowest unbeaten total for an opener remains Geoff Cook's 36 (in 121 minutes) against Victoria at the MCG in December 1932, although Queensland were knocked over for just 74 in less than 34 overs that day and batted one short with Des Hansen absent through injury.

And in contributing less than a quarter of Victoria's total runs (23.6 per cent) despite batting through the entire innings, Chandrasinghe is now owner of the lowest proportion of runs scored by an opener carrying their bat in a Shield game.

Prior to today, that honour belonged to ex-New South Wales' batter Greg Mail whose 150no in his team's 436 against South Australia at the SCG in 2001 accounted for 34.4 per cent.

Chandrasinghe had announced both his talent and his implacable temperament earlier this season in his Shield debut against Tasmania at Hobart when he posted an unbeaten 119 from 333 balls faced batting at number three.

That was the slowest century scored in Shield cricket since Tasmania's Jordan Silk took 341 balls to reach triple figures in the final of the 2012-13 season against Queensland.

It means Chandrasinghe – currently playing just the ninth first-class match of his nascent career – has scored a total of 317 runs from 1278 balls faced at a rate of 24.80 per 100 deliveries.

The only opening batter to record a slower rate of scoring across the first nine matches of their Shield tenure is Queensland's Andrew Courtice (275 runs off 1217 balls at rate of 22.60) who went on to play almost 50 matches for the Bulls during the 1980s.

Indeed, Chandrasinghe finds himself in the shadow of card-carrying tailenders Merv Hughes (25.50), Stuart MacGill (26.13) and Michael Beer (27.52) in terms of scoring rate at the same stage of their respective first-class careers.

But as Victoria's bowlers attempted to drag their team back into this year's final by claiming a series of quick WA wickets either side of lunch, Chandrasinghe's stoicism began to take on even greater significance.

"He should be proud of what he's done today," Victoria skipper Peter Handscomb said of his rookie opener at the close of day one.

"That's his strength, his mental ability to lock in, stay in his bubble all day and just play his game.

"For him not to get flustered and try and play a big shot is awesome, and he's got a big future ahead of him of he can keep that kind of mental strength going."

The Marsh Sheffield Shield final will be broadcast live on Fox Cricket and Kayo Sports, as well as live streamed free on cricket.com.au and the CA Live app.