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Victoria v New South Wales at Melbourne
2-5 Mar 2000 (John Polack)


Day1 | Day2 | Day3

Day1: Path to Final looks clear for Vics

When the first day's play of its Pura Milk Cup match against New South Wales began at Melbourne's Punt Road ground this morning, home team Victoria merely needed to attain first innings points to make absolutely certain that it would qualify to play Queensland in the competition final in two weeks' time. And although the locals were made to endure a difficult period shortly after tea, the ideal looked well within the scope of realisation by the time that it finished just over seven hours later; the Victorians 2/85 at stumps in response to a dismal 148.

Continuing to exhibit much the same level of general ineptitude which has seen them endure one of their worst ever seasons of interstate cricket, the Blues handed the initiative to their opponents almost as soon as debutant Brett van Deinsen (0) suffered the indignity of being dismissed for a duck in the eighth over of the day. After captain Shawn Bradstreet had won the toss, the New South Welshmen did little at all to justify their captain's decision on a pitch which offered significantly more in the way of variable bounce than they seemed to be expecting. Pacemen Matthew Inness (5/38) and Paul Reiffel (4/33) were the chief beneficiaries, their accuracy unerring as they presented a succession of batsmen with a stern examination of their abilities on and just outside the line of off stump.

On a stiflingly hot day in Melbourne, it was the left arm pace of Inness which afforded a small crowd the most enduring highlight of the opening six hours of the match. He intelligently resisted the temptation to bowl short, maintained a consistently swift pace, and persistently troubled his opponents with his capacity to move the ball both in the air and off the seam. Only opener Greg Mail (35), Mark Higgs (whose brisk 28 came in the unfamiliarly low position of number eight in the order) and, to a lesser extent, last wicket pair Trent Johnston (21) and Jamie Heath (11*) were able to frustrate him to any extent at all. His first ever five wicket haul at first class level was well deserved.

The already firm grip on the match that Inness and a typically consistent Reiffel had helped establish showed signs of being weakened when the Victorian reply commenced, but prospects of a dramatic New South Wales' comeback were soon quelled. Johnston captured the wicket of Jason Arnberger (0) with a delivery that pitched on middle stump and straightened before striking the back pad. Noticeably unsettled after he had been struck a nasty blow on a mixture of throat and helmet by Johnston's first delivery, Matthew Elliott (8*) was forced to retire hurt soon after. And then a loose prod at a short Heath ball outside off stump from Brad Hodge (4) reduced the score to 2/14. That was all before Matthew Mott (39*) and Laurie Harper (31* coming after four slips catches earlier in the day) came together though to take advantage of some overly short pitched bowling. And it was their controlled unbroken stand which not only reinforced their team's advantage, but also placed their team seventy-one further steps along an already smooth looking path to their first Sheffield Shield/Pura Milk Cup Final in nine seasons.


Day2: Victorians steal all of the running

Victoria's cricketers are in almost complete command after two days of their Pura Milk Cup match against New South Wales at the Punt Road ground in Melbourne. And, accordingly, they have sealed for themselves a place in the Final of this season's competition. Those are the twin tales to be told at the match's halfway point following yet another day on which the Blues succumbed without issuing anything more than the barest of whimpers. When rain brought a premature cessation to the day's action, the visitors were placed at 0/24 in their second innings and were trailing overall by the small matter of 238 runs.

The Victorians resumed this morning at 2/85, and were not completely assured at that stage of seizing the two first innings points they required to book their meeting in the Final with Queensland. But any hopes that the visitors may have harboured of successfully defending their meagre first innings tally of 148 evaporated about as rapidly as any indication of moisture in the pitch.

From very early in the morning session, the New South Wales attack looked ragged and a succession of batsmen from the home team feasted upon the profligate nature of the bowling. Matthew Mott (65) was the first to indulge, before he lost his wicket to a short leg catch off Stuart MacGill's bowling. Laurie Harper (92) also played very well, mixing several back foot shots over the infield on the leg side with a number of strokes behind the wicket on the off side. And then, shortly after Harper was dismissed (attempting a third run) by a freak direct hit from Matthew Phelps in the deep, Darren Berry (106) and Matthew Elliott (101*) joined to prolong the punishment and guide the score to 8/410.

Hardly anything went wrong for the Victorians. Serious lapses of concentration were responsible for the loss of the wickets of Harper and Michael Klinger (4), but otherwise there was little to disturb them. Fortune also favoured them consistently; Mark Higgs and Corey Richards grassed early chances behind the wicket to catch Mott and Elliott respectively and a number of third umpire decisions tilted narrowly in their favour. Before later hitting out freely, Elliott also played a number of streaky shots upon his return to the crease (he retired hurt late yesterday) at the fall of Mott's wicket. Probably most frustratingly of all, Richards grassed another chance late in the afternoon when running hard to his left from mid off; that it came when Berry was on 99 and afforded the Victorian wicketkeeper only his third first class century said almost all that needed to be.

Of the bowlers, only leg spinner MacGill (1/86) seemed to draw any great respect, and even he seemed to lose patience at times during the belligerent 166 run stand for the sixth wicket between Elliott and Berry. Fellow leg spinner Higgs (3/59) also battled gamely, particularly through the closing stages of Berry's powerful, predominantly leg side exhibition and the overs leading up to the Victorian declaration forty minutes before stumps.

With two days left, it would take a monumental recovery from New South Wales to avert outright defeat in this match. At the very least, it would certainly require their batsmen to effect a remarkable collective improvement upon their dismal effort of yesterday. And, in the unlikely event that the match goes deep into its fourth innings, it will likewise compel a significant about-face from the wayward display that saw their bowlers to concede far too many easy runs today.


Day3: Inness-capable excitement accompanies Victorian triumph

Left arm paceman Matthew Inness (6/70) is the toast of Victorian cricket tonight after a spectacular late afternoon performance brought with it a series of glorious rewards for him and his team on day three of the Pura Milk Cup clash against New South Wales at the Punt Road ground in Melbourne. It was Inness indeed who claimed the first hat-trick at first class level by a bowler from his State in seventy-one years to send the Blues crashing toward a second innings total of 290 and defeat by ten wickets.

Shortly after the final drinks break of the day, the gangly left armer dismissed Shawn Bradstreet (0), Mark Higgs (0) and Trent Johnston (0) with successive balls to bring a sparse crowd to life and usher in understandable scenes of jubilation on the ground itself. They were three excellent deliveries too - the first cut away outside the line of off stump before attracting an outside edge and flying low to first slip; the second was closer to off, slightly fuller, and found an edge to third slip; and the third pitched on leg stump and straightened to draw a leg before wicket verdict.

Prior to Inness' dramatic intervention, the Blues' beleaguered players had actually been enjoying one of their better days in a lean season. To match some weather which stood in contrast to the conditions of yesterday, the New South Welshmen indeed brought with them a bright approach to their batting through the early part of the day. There was still the occasional hint of disconcerting bounce in the straw-coloured pitch, but their top order nullified the problem with distinction. With an intelligent mixture of defence and attack, it was young opener Greg Mail (97) who loomed as its most impressive member; his admirable concentration and discipline complemented by some fine strokeplay during a four and a half hour-long vigil. It was certainly unfortunate to see him play a rare loose drive at a wide Michael Lewis (1/47) delivery when a tantalising three runs short of registering what would have been a richly deserved maiden first class century.

Together with Corey Richards (76), the fluency of whose strokeplay represented a welcome turnaround at the end of a tough season for him, Mail dominated the first half of the day's play. For a long period indeed, the only factor that seemed likely to upset the Blues' recovery was some dubious umpiring. A doubtful enough lbw verdict against opener Brett van Deinsen (20) by Umpire Patterson was made to look even worse when television replays subsequently showed that the successful bowler Paul Reiffel (3/67) had clearly overstepped the crease. Then, after Mail and Richards had been parted, both Matthew Phelps (also lbw to Reiffel for 13) and Brad Haddin (adjudged to be caught behind for 1 as he glanced at a leg side ball from Inness) appeared a little unlucky to lose their wickets too.

But, such has been the Blues' incapacity to threaten other sides for any length of time this season, the late collapse which saw them surrender a disastrous seven wickets for fifty runs was probably to be anticipated. The pyrotechnical heroics of Inness aside, there was indeed something remarkably familiar about watching a succession of New South Wales' batsmen flailing away with little conviction. There was also a certain sense of the commonplace as Matthew Elliott (22*) and Jason Arnberger (8*) polished off the twenty-nine runs necessary for Victoria to claim a ten wicket win in the half hour of extra play claimed at the end of the day.