The off-spinner takes four wickets on his 24th birthday to help the defending Shield champions to 167

Todd Murphy laid down a marker in their Sheffield Shield clash with Western Australia’s Corey Rocchiccioli to give Victoria the lead after day one at Junction Oval.

Murphy’s four wickets vindicated captain Peter Handscomb’s decision to bowl first as WA were dismissed for 167 just before the tea interval.

Victoria have lost their last three Shield matches against the three reigning champions, with the two states building a bitter rivalry over the past three seasons having played in the first two of those finals.

The rivalry has run parallel to the rise of off-spinners Murphy and Rocchiccioli, who are both battling for a place in next year’s Test tour of Sri Lanka with veteran Nathan Lyon as partner.

The Western Australian tweaker fought back late in the day to leave Victoria with 2-100 at stumps, chasing down the visitors for 67. The experienced duo of Marcus Harris (40 not out) and Peter Handscomb (26 not out ) will resume in the morning.

Cameron Bancroft’s dreadful start to the summer continued when he was trapped by Australia A team-mate Fergus O’Neill for 12 after being dropped at third slip by Harris earlier.

Opener Sam Fanning (34 off 47 balls), replacing injured skipper Sam Whiteman (side strain) for the second consecutive match, gave WA a nice platform with a series of well-timed drives before Murphy enter the battle.

Fresh from white-ball career-best figures of 4-27 in the One-Day Cup match two days earlier, Murphy struck with his second delivery of the day when Fanning attempted a sweeping shot that was cleverly shot on the leg by keeper Sam Harper.

It was an early gift for the right-armer who celebrated his 24th birthday today and returned later in the innings to put the icing on the cake with three of WA’s last four wickets to finish with 4-37 from 15 overs .

Murphy and Rocchiccioli both performed strongly for the Aussies in the recent ‘A’ series against India A, with Murphy taking four wickets in the opening match in Mackay before being replaced by Rocchiccioli for the second, who took 1-21 and 4 -74 at the MCG. .

“Anytime you can get into the game on the first day is nice and it’s nice to go off the ground with four overs,” Murphy said at stumps on the first day.

“The most enjoyable side from Mackay to the MCG (for one day) and today, there were different conditions each time.

“To be able to adapt to that quickly and still find a way to have some success was nice and probably shows that what I’m doing right now is working and I’m confident.

“When you make a bowl (first) the aim is to throw some out, so to do that around tea time and for the total I made it’s really nice.”

Third man Xavier Crone chipped in with two wickets, including that of dangerman Hilton Cartwright (10), fresh from 153 in last week’s win over Tasmania, spotting O’Neill at gully with a strong cut shot.

O’Neill finished with 3-43 and ageless seamer Peter Siddle 1-29, with wicketkeeper Joel Curtis the only other WA batsman to start in 36 innings.

Through the stumps, Harris and Handscomb ate into more than half the deficit as the left-hander began to move on from the disappointment of yet again being overlooked for a Test recall.

He looked particularly at ease in the pace of former Victorian speedster Brody Couch, whom he cut through and over the slip cordon before dropping a sublime back-leg cover drive to complete a hat-trick of consecutive boundaries.

“This is probably Harry’s (Harris) class … obviously he would have been bitterly disappointed that he wasn’t chosen,” Murphy said.

“I know he’s worked really hard to get into the frame. He’s played some really good innings for us and I think he’ll be hungry to continue his case.”

WA missed a chance to remove Harris with two overs left on the day when he clipped a full toss that Ashton Agar edged to midwicket, while the last ball of the first day saw him play and miss a Rocchiccioli delivery that narrowly missed the opening stump.

Cameron Gannon was the other WA wicket-taker on day one with a beautiful inswinger that bowled Ashley Chandrasinghe for five.

Sheffield Shield 2024-25 standings

Team	Matches played m	Win w	Loss IT	Drawn d	No result N/A	Deductions Ded.	Batting bonus Stick	Bowling bonus Bowl	Total points PTS
1 Men of Western Australia WA	3	2	0	1	0	0	3.85	2.4	19.25
2 South Australian men SADDLE	3	2	0	1	0	0	2.64	3	18.64
3 Victoria Man VIC	3	1	1	1	0	0	2.54	2.4	11.94
4 Queensland Bulls QLD	3	0	1	2	0	0	2.84	2.6	7.44
5 Men of NSW NSW	3	0	1	2	0	0	2.05	2.3	6.35
6 Male Tasmanian Tigers TAS	3	0	2	1	0	0	2.8	2.2	6

Legend

M: Matches played

w: Win

IT: Loss

D: Drawn

N/A: No result

Ded.: Deductions

Stick: Batting bonus

Bowl: Bowling bonus

PTS: Total points