south australia 286 for 9 (Hunt 62, Scott 53, Seadle 3-44) victoria
Wickets were dropped regularly during the second and third sessions as South Australia finished 286 for 9 after visiting captain Will Sutherland made his first use of the Adelaide Oval batting strip.
Siddle struck twice in the over to remove Daniel Drew and Jake Lehmann for his second duck in as many matches.
The indefatigable Siddle returned late on to clean up the bowling of Scott and send the home side’s last conceded batsman out for 53, ending the day with figures of 3 for 44 from 18 overs.
Siddle, who scored 5 for 49 against powerful New South Wales last weekend, is back in the Shield squad among Victoria’s numerous absences.
Bowlers Scott Boland, Todd Murphy, Fergus O’Neill and opener Marcus Harris all missed the third round match due to Australia A commitments.
Siddle, a veteran of 67 Tests, complemented a young Victoria bowling line-up that featured the returning Cam McClure, Mitch Perry and spinner Doug Warren, who replaced Murphy.
The day started in bizarre fashion when the fifth ball of the match evaded wicketkeeper Sam Harper and hit the fielding helmet, resulting in five penalty runs.
Despite the early gift, South Australia failed to score fluently and in the final minutes of the morning session were only 62 runs apiece at lunch, two runs over.
Conor McInerney was the only batsman to fall off Sutherland’s bowling before Siddle attempted a double break after the interval.
Hunt made a typically cautious 62 to edge Warren to first slip off the first ball of the left-arm spinner’s spell.
Siddle was also active in the field, catching a well-informed Carey off the boundary of Perry’s bowling.
Carey’s knock ended at 44 as his full shot failed to clear the narrow Adelaide Oval boundary, leaving the home side on a wobbly 159.
Scott played a crucial innings to revive South Australia, assisted by Ben Manenti and debutant Henry Thornton.
