Western Australia 5 for 310 (Whiteman, Green 56, Agar 51*, Pope 5-94) v South Australia

Lloyd Pope, the lone frontline spinner on South Australia's contract list this season, bagged all five wickets to fall on the opening day but Western Australia held the honours with a solid top-order display that included three half-centuries, one coming from the much talked-about Cameron Green.

Cameron Bancroft, looking to bounce back from a horror 2019-2020 season, and Sam Whiteman put on an opening stand of 106 before Pope changed the complexion with two strikes before lunch. After a wicketless middle session, where Green and Shaun Marsh consolidated, he chipped out three more in four overs after tea to leave Western Australia wobbling on 5 for 215 but an unbroken sixth-wicket stand of 95 in 25 between Ashton Agar and Josh Inglis reclaimed the advantage.

Whiteman dominated the opening stand, scoring the first half-century of the Sheffield Shield season off 87 balls, but Bancroft had started to find a touch of fluency when he was bowled by a superb googly from Pope. The legspinner, who no longer has the flowing red locks after a winter trim, then had Whiteman smartly taken at leg slip with the last ball before lunch: figures of 5-0-32-0 had turned into 6-0-41-2.

The tempo of the day changed in the afternoon as South Australia managed to keep a hold on the scoring rate in favourable batting conditions while Marsh and Green, who already has three Shield hundreds in 16 matches, played steadily.

However, in the first over after tea Marsh gave Travis Head his second catch at leg slip and Pope his third wicket which was soon followed by Green, lbw with a straighter delivery for a composed half-century, and Ashton Turner edging a drive to the keeper.

It was the second five-wicket haul of Pope's first-class career which is only six matches old, following the 7 for 87 he claimed against Queensland in his second outing during the 2018 season. He remained inconsistent throughout the day, conceded four and a half an over, but showed his ability to produce wicket-taking deliveries.

However, it put the onus on the seamers to keep the run rate under control and during a final session that brought 123 runs off 34 overs, Agar and Inglis were able to take advantage of a tiring attack to wrestle back control. Agar, who was given the No. 6 role in an endorsement of his all-round potential that could interest the Australia selectors, went to his half-century shortly before the close.