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Wade laments Vic collapses

Queensland skipper Forrest admits his side 'got out of jail' while Bushrangers skipper left to rue missed opportunity

At the end of today's sixth match of this Matador BBQ One-Day Cup, both captains were in agreement; Victoria had lost a game they should have won, and Queensland had won one they could well have lost.

In a low-scoring affair at Blacktown International Sports Park, the Bulls saluted by 29 runs after they managed to defend a total of 209 that both skippers – Victoria's Matthew Wade and Queenslander Peter Forrest – said was 30 or 40 runs below par.

"Really disappointing. We let that slip, to be honest," Wade said after his side were bowled out for 180 having been reduced to 7-79 in their run chase.

"I thought 230 maybe even 240 was par on that wicket. We just didn't bat well enough.

Wade top-scored for Victoria with 56

"We lost three for six and then three for one. You're not going to win many games when you lose six for seven in a big clump. That's the disappointing part. We got within 35 or so runs and we lost six for seven, so it's disappointing.

"You're not going to win too many games if you're 3-30 in the first 15 overs."

Wade, who top scored with 56 from 45 balls, had earlier sent the Bulls in to bat in the belief that the late-night dew would make defending a total difficult in the final stages of the run chase.

As it was, the two middle-order collapses that Wade lamented brought an end to the innings after 41 overs, and the effect of the surface moisture never completely took hold.

"We knew that there was a little bit of dew that would come in. That's why I decided to bowl first because we wanted to take advantage of that in the last 10 overs," he said.

"I thought on this ground, which is quite big, it would have been hard to defend.

"If we'd had a batter in there in the last 10 overs – we didn't end up using the last 10 overs – if we'd had a batter in from 15-20 overs out it would have helped a lot."

Forrest was patient in putting together a half-century

There was a sense of bewilderment in Wade's assessment, which was reflected in Forrest's comments post match.

While thrilled to record a victory the Bulls so desperately needed after Monday's nine-wicket thumping against Tasmania, Forrest concedes his side got lucky.

"I thought we were under par and I knew were going to have to bowl well," he said.

"I thought par was 250 at the start of the day and then we reassessed after we got off to slow start.

"I thought if we had 220 or 230 we'd have something to bowl at. (But) 209, I knew we were going to have to bowl really well.

"We did bowl well, but we got out of jail tonight.

"I'm extremely happy with the win. Its game two of the tournament, we didn't play well last game and we got away with a win tonight.

"I'm happy with how we bowled, I’d still like us to be better with the bat."

Neither Wade nor Forrest blamed the low-scoring on a wicket that appeared sluggish throughout and on which only two batsmen finished their innings with a strike rate exceeding 100.

Pattinson swung the willow with abandon 

Indeed, Wade and No.9 James Pattinson scored freely in the latter stages of Victoria's innings to give rise to the hopes of an unlikely comeback win.

The left-handed duo hit eight fours and four sixes between them after a star-studded Bushrangers side had been undone by an unheralded Bulls attack.

Forrest believed both sides would have taken more risks against the new ball had they had their time over, but Wade didn't look too deep into how a side with eight international players were dismissed for such a low total.

"Most players know exactly what's gone wrong … we're not re-inventing the wheel," he said.

"We've got to be better in the first 10 or 15 overs with the bat. If we can clean that up a bit, we've got the team that can go all the way.

"We've just got to dust ourselves off and get ready to go in the next game (against Western Australia on Monday).

"In an instance like this I think it's good to have quick turnarounds.

"Get in the nets, train a little bit but then get back out there and put a good performance forward.

"You don't want to be sitting on it stewing for too long."