Western Australia 196 (Bird 3-22) and 346 for 4 dec (Cartwright 171*, Bancroft 86, Fanning 59) drew with New South Wales 261(Patterson 86, Morris 5-26) and 130 for 4 (Gilkes 53*, Konstas 50)
New South Wales opener Sam Konstas batted maturely on a tricky WACA surface late on day four to fend off Western Australia's unlikely push for victory as the pivotal Sheffield Shield clash ended in a draw.
It means both teams will have to rely on results going their way in the last round to make the final after Queensland leapfrogged them into second-placed with their earlier victory against Tasmania.
The WACA has hosted the previous three finals, but South Australia locked up hosting rights with their thrilling victory against Victoria. Three-time champions WA will play fifth-placed Victoria, still mathematically able to qualify for the final, in the last round while NSW travel to Tasmania who have been knocked out.
WA declared their second innings at 346 for 4 early in the second session with Hilton Cartwright finishing unbeaten on a first-class career best score of 171 not out.
NSW needed 282 runs off 57 overs for the victory needed to move into second spot, but they did not attempt to chase down the total on a surface that proved particularly difficult for batters against the new ball.
Konstas was a steadying presence with 50 off 107 balls before Matthew Gilkes and Ollie Davies held firm in the final hour.
All eyes at the start of NSW's innings were on Konstas and whether he would try to make a play at the total. But he was watchful from the get go much like during his limited time at the crease in the first innings. The fireworks happened at the other end when opener Nic Maddinson fell for a duck on the third ball of the innings after edging left-arm quick Joel Paris to second slip.
Konstas was unperturbed and intent on defence, taking until his eighth delivery to register his first run. In a big moment, Kurtis Patterson had a let off on 1 after he was dropped by Paris at gully in a tough chance.
Paris and Cameron Gannon produced considerable seam movement, but Konstas was rock solid and only had one scoring shot from his first 23 balls. Lance Morris entered the attack in the 11th over and there was an unknown over how many overs he would bowl. Under a restriction of around 30 overs per game to manage his body, Morris took career best first-class figures of 5 for 26 off 20.3 overs in NSW's first innings.
Morris ended up bowling 12 overs, but he was unable to rediscover his accuracy and control as Konstas played him with relative ease.
Batting became easier as Konstas and Patterson, NSW's first innings top-scorer with 86 off 262 balls, made it through to tea and they knocked the ball around after the resumption.
The match unexpectedly sparked to life when Paris bowled Patterson with a delivery that crept low. Paris continued to target divots as he troubled left-handed batter Gilkes, while offspinner Corey Rocchiccioli started to menace with sharp bounce.
He had Konstas on 38 poking to short-leg, but it was given not out. Konstas reached his half-century and the match again appeared to be fizzling away until he missed a straight Rocchiccioli delivery and was stumped before Josh Philippe was caught at short-leg on his first ball.
But Rocchiccioli could not get his hat-trick or produce the necessary heroics as the match petered out to a draw.
Earlier, WA resumed their second innings on 209 for 2 with a lead of 144 runs. There was intrigue over how WA would play the situation and when they would eye a declaration. Cartwright and Cameron Bancroft batted cautiously against the new ball with runs hard to come by as the clock started to tick.
Bancroft's 276-ball stonewall ended on 86 after he edged Jack Edwards to first slip. Playing his 100th Shield match, Bancroft trudged off disappointed but satisfied in his return to the field after a horrific on-field collision during a BBL game in early January.
Bancroft's wicket didn't prompt a change of tactics from WA with batter Sam Fanning struggling with his timing. Emerging left-hander Fanning does tend to either bat in two modes - aggressively or dour - and he was stuck in the latter with just three runs off his first 31 balls faced.
But with the ball losing its shine, Fanning eventually got into his groove and runs flowed after lunch. The batters had fun for 30 minutes after the interval with Fanning launching offspinner Chris Green down the ground on several occasions.
Cartwright overtook his previous highest score of 170 before he soon walked off the field to a rousing ovation.
