New South Wales 394 (Patterson 71, Maddinson 69, Davies 56, McAndrew 4-90) beat South Australia 110 (Hunt 30, Bird 7-46) and 283 (Lehmann 100, Kelly 59, Edwards 4-41, Bird 4-65) by an innings and 1 run
After claiming seven first-innings wickets to skittle the hosts for 110, Bird was a handful again with a four-wicket haul in the second innings at the Karen Rolton Oval in Adelaide.
Despite the best efforts of Jake Lehmann, who scored his 11th first-class century, South Australia were unable to do enough to make NSW bat again.
It was the sixth 10-wicket match haul for Bird in a long and winding first-class career.
Bird’s previous five-wicket haul before he rocked South Australia on Thursday was back in March 2021, when he bagged 7-18 against the Blues while playing for Tasmania.
South Australia entered the match after beating NSW in the one-day cup match on Tuesday, and were previously undefeated in the Shield. But without Test keeper Alex Carey, who is preparing for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, SA suffered a major reality check in losing inside three days to a team on the rise.
Dropped from NSW’s Sheffield Shield side for most of last summer and fearing his career could be over, Patterson made it three straight half-centuries.
