A sensational batting performance has fired Victoria to a 25-run win over Tasmania in their Ryobi Cup clash at the MCG on Sunday.
Fresh off a score of 2-379 against Queensland in their last match, the Bushrangers batted first and posted 6-348 from their 50 overs, their third-highest one-day domestic score and the fifth best in the competition's history.
David Hussey (100 off 78 balls) led the way in a Bushrangers innings that included 11 sixes and the losers, who were valiant in response, were eventually bowled out for 323 with two balls remaining.
Tasmania captain George Bailey and Ed Cowan (74 each) both batted well for the Tigers and at 3-223 after 37 overs, they were in with a chance.
But three quick wickets to Victorian seamer Darren Pattinson (4-46 off nine overs) ended the visitors' chances.
Chasing 349 to win, Tasmania were lucky early, with Tim Paine (32) dropped by Jayde Herrick while Mark Cosgrove (10) should have been run out by Rob Quiney.
Cosgrove fell shortly after being given a life, with Pattinson producing an edge that was well caught by wicketkeeper Peter Handscomb, with a confident Ricky Ponting (25) striding to the crease as a result.
Ponting, who scored 222 runs without being dismissed in the Sheffield Shield match against the same opponents earlier this week, hooked the fourth ball he faced for six in an ominous sign for Victoria.
But John Hastings (2-69 off 10) removed his partner shortly after as Paine, who received a knock to an injured finger during his innings, was caught behind, and he had another wicket when the former Aussie captain edged a back-foot push to Cameron White at first slip.
At 3-81, Tasmania looked gone, but a 145-run partnership between Bailey and Cowan, who was dropped on zero by Handscomb, that came from just 128 deliveries was particularly impressive.
Instead of using brute strength like the Victorians had done earlier, the Tassie pair placed the ball well and their running between the wickets was first class.
The game changed in the 38th over though, when Bailey feathered an edge to Handscomb off Pattinson, and two overs later it was over when Cowan chopped on.
Pattinson also removed Aiden Blizzard (17) before Jason Krejza (eight) and Xavier Doherty (zero) went cheaply, and although James Faulkner (37 not out) and Ben Laughlin (28) provided some late fireworks, they were always going to fall short.
Earlier, Aaron Finch (63) and Quiney (53) set the tone for Victoria's innings with a 101-run partnership for the first wicket that took just 96 deliveries to compile.
Tasmania openers Faulkner (2-79 off 12) and Jackson Bird (1-75 off 11) came in for early punishment and the introduction of spinners Doherty (0-92 off 13) and Krejza (0-34 off four) in successive overs did little to stem the flow of runs.
Both Finch and Quiney were finding the boundary regularly and a repeat of the pair's 226-run union at the 'Gabba three weeks ago looked on the cards.
Faulkner provided the all-important intervention for the Tigers though with Quiney caught behind attempting to cut in the 16th over.
The run-rate continued to soar as Glenn Maxwell (42) came in and quickly got to work and although Laughlin (3-68 off 10) picked up a couple of wickets, Victoria never lost any momentum.
Hussey and Cameron White (45) added 115 runs for the third wicket, with the 39th over, the last of the powerplay - that saw Faulkner go for 22 - setting up Victoria's late surge.
The Bushrangers smashed 105 runs from the final 10 overs and although White was dismissed by Bird after hitting successive sixes, Andrew McDonald (33) was aggressive from the word go.
The 48th over, bowled by Doherty, also went for 22, and Hussey, who timed the ball superbly, brought up his fifth one-day domestic century with a single to mid off from the first ball of the 49th.
He and McDonald were both dismissed late in the piece but it mattered little as the Bushrangers posted a huge total that would ultimately be too many.
First Posted 29 October, 2012 9:45AM AEST
