Victoria has clinched a nail-biting 34-run win over a gallant South Australia on day three of their Bupa Sheffield Shield clash at the MCG.
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The Redbacks came agonisingly close to achieving a remarkable victory, but it was the experience of Victoria that proved telling in the end.
They were bowled out for 267, falling 35 runs shy of winning a very memorable encounter.
Victoria moves to third on the Bupa Sheffield Shield table, two points behind Western Australia (second), as they grabbed maximum points.
Peter Siddle was the hero for the Bushrangers, claiming 6-43 from 22 overs in a top-class display of aggressive fast bowling.
Siddle ended up with figures of 9-77 for the match, as he took some sparkling form for Australia over the summer into the state competition.
Jayde Herrick pitched in with two wickets while Jon Holland and Andrew McDonald each took one, but it was Siddle's ability to produce in the crunch that was the difference between the two sides in the end.
The contest was delicately poised at the tea break with South Australia requiring a further 66 runs for victory, while Victoria needed four wickets.
South Australian 18-year-old Travis Head and Chadd Sayers took their partnership past 50, with the former registering his maiden first-class half century.
A punch down the ground from Head signalled his desire to steer his team home, but it was Holland who broke the resolve of a crucial 55-run partnership, bowling Sayers as he attempted to work the ball on to the leg side.
The introduction of the new ball in the 83rd over also paid immediate dividends for the Bushrangers, as Andrew McDonald all but sealed victory with the dismissal of Head for a well compiled 57.
Siddle was causing all sorts of problems and he grabbed the wicket of Joe Mennie (0), before finishing the job with the last wicket of Peter George by thudding the ball into his pads right in front of the stumps.
Earlier in the day, a fighting 134-run partnership from Tom Cooper (62) and Callum Ferguson (71) gave South Australia the impetus for snatching an unlikely win.
An astonishing 19 wickets fell on day two, while a vital 55 runs from tail-ender Jon Holland ultimately proved the difference in this contest.
On day one it was South Australian quick Joe Mennie's 5-43 that looked the man most likely to give the Redbacks the advantage, but a solid 71 from Andrew McDonald lifted the Bushrangers out of trouble after they found themselves at 7-118 at one stage.
