Tasmania will be aiming to land a knockout blow on opponent New South Wales at some time over the next 48 hours after it continued to lay a platform for outright victory on the second day of the teams' Pura Cup clash here in Hobart today.

Resilient New South Wales openers Corey Richards (34*) and Matthew Phelps (29*) sounded a warning to their hosts that a long fight for outright points probably still awaits, joining in a defiant unbroken stand that carried the visitors to a second innings mark of 0/65 by stumps.

In that it had earlier delivered a 237-run first innings advantage for the home team, though, this was again a day on which terms were generally dictated by the Tasmanians.

Though the latter wasn't quite at his best, Michael Dighton (84) and Jamie Cox (72) established the impetus for what was to follow by stretching their partnership for the second wicket to a mark of 82 runs upon the resumption.

The liaison secured first innings points for Tasmania; featured close to run-a-minute scoring; and gradually seemed to drain spirit from the bowlers.

In both context and execution, Dighton's hand had all the trappings of one of the best-timed innings of the season. His driving was flawless; his placement impeccable; and his rate of scoring brisk.

Michael Di Venuto (39) added to the momentum once Cox had fallen to a fine low catch at point, complementing Dighton's headway with a flurry of boundaries of his own.

Though Tasmania's progress stalled briefly on either side of lunch as Dighton was beaten in slog-sweeping at left arm spinner Michael Clarke (2/25) and Di Venuto swung across the line at Don Nash (2/81), containment remained a difficult art for their opponents.

David Saker (40*) and Shane Jurgensen (19) encapsulated this reality in clubbing 44 in a breezy tenth wicket stand that revived memories of their recent 114-run association that acted as the rallying point of Tasmania's late season renaissance.

In the interim, the New South Wales bowlers scratched away in unconvincing manner.

A comparative rush of wickets arrived with the second new ball for Stuart Clark (2/99) and Grant Lambert (3/86), but a string of sizeable Tasmanian partnerships made frustration the order of the day for the visitors.

Also adding to the Blues' woes were three missed catches.

With his score at 53, the flight of a ball that had been viciously cut by Dighton was misjudged by Phil Jaques at third man to the extent that it carried over his head and dropped inside the line of the boundary rope just behind him. It proved an expensive miss, though not substantially more costly than a later error by the same fieldsman at third slip and another by captain Michael Slater in the gully in the space of one Nathan Bracken (1/85) over to Saker early in his innings.

Phelps and Richards kickstarted a much-needed recovery with a plucky association that helped to demystify any complexities in the pitch. Phelps played and missed twice in the opening over of the innings but the pair soon settled, driving expertly through the off side and helping themselves to a diet of runs to leg as the Tasmanian pacemen strayed in line.

They were also aided by the absence from the attack of regular new ball bowler Damien Wright, whose ongoing battle with a thigh injury means that he will probably only return to the bowling crease if desperately needed.

But the whip hand remained Tasmania's, and the locals must fancy their chances of securing the six points they require to all but guarantee their passage to next week's Pura Cup Final.

If Phelps had not survived arguably the most beseeching lbw appeal of the summer as Jurgensen (0/16) lured him into padding up to an off cutter in the concluding over of the day, the home team's advantage would have been even more manifest.

© 2002 CricInfo Ltd