New Vic in top nick with ton
UNWANTED by his old state and signed almost as an afterthought by his new one, Nic Maddinson has scored an unbeaten century on Sheffield Shield debut for Victoria.
The home side is in charge at 3-311 against Western Australia at stumps at the MCG, thanks to Maddinson’s superb innings in his first Shield appearance since his acrimonious split with NSW.
The three-Test batsman blasted two sixes and 21 fours, amassing 159 from 282 balls.
“I’m just grateful for the opportunity I was given by Victoria,” Maddinson said. “I knew, coming in, it was going to be tough for me to play Shield cricket but, with (Marcus Harris, Aaron Finch and Peter Handscomb) getting selected, it opened a hole and I was making runs.
“I feel confident in my game, so it was just about making sure I was making the right decisions, especially early against the new ball.”
Cameron White will resume today with Maddinson. White’s 65 not out came from 112 balls and included 10 fours.
Maddinson survived a scare on 92 but his reprieve came at the expense of Glenn Maxwell.
In a freakish dismissal, WA seamer Matthew Kelly dropped a sharp return chance off Maddinson, but the ball took a big deflection off his hand back on to the stumps with non-striker Maxwell out of his crease.
Maxwell had batted impressively coming in up the order at No.4 but had to depart on 57 from 91 deliveries.
Victoria raced to 0-62 after stand-in skipper Travis Dean won the toss and elected to bat.
But WA applied the brakes when Dean (16) and Will Pucovski (1) departed. Dean is filling in for Handscomb, preferred in the Test XI at the expense of Mitch Marsh, who has returned to lead WA.
Marsh conceded 25 runs from three overs, but tightened up to return 0-58 from 14 overs.
Allrounder Marcus Stoinis was the pick of the bowlers with 1-30 from 16 overs.