Krejza stars in Tasmania win

Tasmania 7 for 194 (Lockyear 51, Birt 44, Dighton 43, Krejza 33*) beat New South Wales 8 for 166 (Henriques 42, Rohrer 30, Krejza 3-23) by 28 runs
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details

Tasmania have kept their hopes of making the finals alive with a comfortable 28-run win over New South Wales in the Twenty20 Big Bash clash at ANZ Stadium in Sydney. The Tigers dominated from start to finish after being sent in by the Blues captain Simon Katich. The openers Rhett Lockyear and Michael Dighton exploited the small dimensions of the Olympic Stadium with a powerful opening stand of 73 from 47 balls.

Lockyear was particularly brutal with 51 from 29, including four towering sixes. Travis Birt picked up where Lockyear left off, clubbing five sixes of his own in a blistering 17-ball 44 to guide the visitors to 1 for 139 after 12 overs.

But the Blues stopped the bleeding momentarily with Doug Bollinger and Mark Cameron claiming four wickets in ten deliveries. And when Dominic Thornely conceded only two runs from his fourth over, the 16th of the innings, the Tigers had lost 4 for 21 in four overs. Late hitting from Jason Krejza took the total to a very competitive 7 for 194. Katich may well have missed a trick only giving one over to his left-arm orthodox spinner Steve O'Keefe.

This proved the case when Daniel Marsh manoeuvred his bowlers brilliantly to restrict the Blues to 8 for 166 in reply. Spin was the key to the Tigers' performance, with Xavier Doherty opening and finishing with 2 for 26. Krejza bowled beautifully to add 3 for 23 to his 33 not out in a Man-of-the-Match performance.

Marsh himself chipped in as the spinners mixed their pace cleverly to leave the Blues reeling. Moises Henriques was the only player to escape the web, smashing 42 from 25 at the top of the order. Both sides have one match remaining in which to qualify for a spot in the preliminary final.