Vics see Tassie as key to success

VICTORIAN skipper Peter Handscomb is eyeing a win over Tasmania in the one-day cup final to propel his side into the Sheffield Shield season with a full head of steam.

The Vics scored an upset 63-run semi-final win over Western Australia in Sunday’s semi-final at Junction Oval to progress to the final at the same venue tomorrow.

Handscomb continued his outstanding run of form with his fourth half-century in a row, the Victorian skipper top scoring with a well made 80 from 73 deliveries. He’s confident his team is building strong momentum ahead of next week’s Shield season-opener against WA in Perth.

“[This] win gives us a lot of confidence moving forward because it was more of a complete game, which is what we’ve been asking from our entire squad,” Handscomb said.

“We were confident and we have been all tournament, we just hadn’t actually put it all together yet. “So it’s great to come into a semi-final and actually put it together. “If we can win on Wednesday we’ll go into the Shield [season] very confident.”

Tasmania beat Queensland in the other semi-final to set up this season’s one-day competition decider.

Chasing a target of 333 on Sunday, the Warriors were cruising at 1-121 but the Vics were able to apply the brakes after danger man D’Arcy Short departed for 44 off 45 balls.

WA stormed into the semifinal on top of the table and unbeaten in five matches but Josh Inglis was the only batsman able to post a half-century when he scored 63.

The Warriors were eventually bowled out for 269 after 45.5 overs in front of 1381 fans.

After making 58 from 63 balls, Nic Maddinson cleaned up the Warriors’ tail with 4-28 from 4.5 overs.

Victoria lost early wickets but rallied to be all out for 332 off 49.5 overs.

Nathan Coulter-Nile was the pick of the WA bowlers, finishing his 10 overs with figures of 3-50.

Player-of-the-match Harris provided plenty of dash for the Vics, stroking the ball to all parts of the ground with 13 fours and two sixes in his 73 from 49 balls.