Victoria starts in style

During a solid team performance, Victoria’s bowlers managed to dismiss the ACT for 146, having earlier registered 9-222 from its 50 overs.

Coach Graeme Rummans was pleased with his side’s ability to fight back, having recovered from 7-146 earlier in the day.

“The boys played well,” Rummans said.

“Everyone got starts, which was disappointing in the sense no one got a fifty, but everyone chipped in which is what you need.

“We bat really deep, the guys down the order are not number 9, 10 and 11’s, and they showed that today.”

Chasing Victoria’s competitive total, the ACT were under pressure early with Jake Wood striking in the first over of play.

Two quick ones followed from Kieron Elliott, which had the ACT reeling at 3-25.

A strong partnership between Lakshmn Shivakkumar (20) and Nicholas Skelly (14) kept ACT in the game; however, breakthroughs to Jack Baker (2-24) and Ejaz Alavi (1-25) kept the target at arm’s reach.

Late order partnerships prolonged the outcome, but two run outs to Victoria went a long way to dismissing the ACT for 146 in the 39^th over.

Earlier, an explosive start to Victoria was undermined by a mid-order collapse that threatened to derail its day one campaign.

Flying out of the blocks, Victoria got off to an imposing start, blasting its way to 2-42 from six overs. 

Tight bowling from the ACT managed to stem the flow of runs before the dismissal of the dangerous Guy Walker (33 off 32) left Victoria at 3-69.

Captain Pat McKenna took up the mantle for Victoria, with the Melton batsman batting through the middle for a well compiled 47.

His departure set off a chain of wickets, with Victoria slumping to 7-146 in the 35^th over.

Fortunately for Victoria, strong late order performances from Taylor Tatterson (38*), Alavi (21) and Luke Ford (19) ensured that a competitive total was set.

Walker, who also took 2-9 to go along with his 33, said that he was pleased with the win and was looking forward to a tough clash with Northern Territory on day two.

“We are really happy with that win,” Walker said.

“We obviously went out with good intent to score quickly. My goal was to just get as many singles as I could and put the bad ball away.

“I guess it was a bit disappointing to lose wickets through the middle, but ‘Tatto’ (Tatterson) did a great job to get us to 220, which is what we needed on that wicket.”

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