Victoria (Handscomb 51, Webster 2-17) beat Tasmania 224 (Webster 83, Boland 2-30) by three wickets
An aggressive Peter Handscomb half-century has helped Victoria grind to a three-wicket win against Tasmania in the first round of the Marsh Cup.
Chasing 225, Handscomb top-scored with 51 from 42 balls as Victoria reached 229 for 7 with 31 balls to spare despite an outstanding all-round display Tasmania’s Beau Webster, who made 83 and took 2 for 17 to give the visitors a chance.
Tasmania’s top-order batters got bogged down against a disciplined Victorian attack on a tacky early season surface – all out on the last ball of their 50 overs for 224 – at the Junction Oval in Melbourne.
Handscomb, along with opener Tom Rogers, deliberately avoided the same trap in their run chase. Rogers struck five fours and a six in making 45 from 49 balls and laid a solid platform. Although he fell in the 19th over, Victoria were well-placed at 110 for 3.
Handscomb’s knock featured seven fours and a six before emerging 20-year-old Campbell Kellaway played a composed hand, the left-hander making 46 from 71.
Will Sutherland sealed victory with an unbeaten cameo of 29 runs from 20 balls, including a six to finish the match.
Tasmania’s Billy Stanlake and Webster were the only multiple wicket-takers, although Riley Meredith bowled a lightning spell down wind to finish with 1 for 29 from 10 overs.
Earlier, the Tigers’ top-order batsmen struggled against miserly seam bowling from Scott Boland and Fergus O’Neill. Boland took 2 for 30 from his 10 overs while O’Neill took 1 for 36 including a maiden.
Opener Caleb Jewell was out in the fifth over, as Boland, from around the wicket, enticed an outside edge to Sutherland, who completed a sharp ankle-high catch at second slip.
Two balls later, in a fresh Boland over, the paceman trapped Mac Wright lbw for a duck and Jordan Silk soon followed. Jake Weatherald, opening for the Tigers for the first time since leaving South Australia, made 28 from 61 deliveries but fell to Sam Elliott.
Weatherald’s dismissal left Tasmania wobbling at 72 for four in the 23rd over. Webster answered the crisis call, hitting nine fours and a six in an impressive counter-punch despite fringe Test spinner Todd Murphy conceding only 32 runs from his 10 wicketless overs.
Webster was supported by Matthew Wade and Mitchell Owen as he lifted the Tigers to 224, helped by a late flurry from Sam Rainbird. But they were 30 to 40 runs short in the end.
Source: ESPN Crickinfo
