Vics slip up in nail-biter
From cruising to roadblock
A MIDDLE-order collapse has proved costly for Victoria, which slipped to a nine-run loss against South Australia in their final round one-day cup match at Junction Oval.
Victoria seemed on track at the midway point of its innings yesterday in pursuit of South Australia’s challenging 7-265, but the home side lost 4-9 and was dismissed for 257 off the final ball.
Opener Cameron White (81) and Peter Handscomb (64) put on a comfortable 125run stand for the third wicket, leaving the Vics cruising at 3-178 in the 34th over.
But the collapse began with the dismissal of Test discard Handscomb, who had posted his third consecutive halfcentury in the competition.
Fast-medium bowler Joe Mennie was pivotal with 3-38, while debutant Luke Robins (1-48) took the crucial wicket of Glenn Maxwell (33 off 37 balls) as the limited-overs specialist looked as if he would save the day for the Vics.
While all six teams will fea- ture in the finals, Victoria needed to win to have any chance of a top-two finish and claim passage directly into the elimination final.
Veteran batsman Callum Ferguson scored a composed century to rescue South Australia from a parlous 2-30 early in their innings.
After cautiously guiding his side to safety, Ferguson accelerated before being dismissed for 133 off 125 balls for an SA record eighth one-day century.
Jake Lehmann (44) and Tom Cooper (37) were the other main contributors for South Australia.
Victoria was well served by legspinner Fawad Ahmed (2-42) in his first outing of the season, while Chris Tremain also made a timely return following recent injury to fellow paceman Will Sutherland.