BBL star Silk transfers form to Marsh Cup win

Jordan Silk brought his standout KFC BBL form into the Marsh One-Day Cup as the middle-order maestro guided Tasmania to a six-wicket victory over a green Victorian outfit at the Junction Oval on Wednesday.

Peter Handscomb (95 from 106 balls) continued to be in red-hot touch with his fourth consecutive fifty-plus score but found little help from his teammates as they ruined a promising start to lose 8-61 and be bowled out for 222 despite the Tigers being forced to leave out star quick Riley Meredith.

Silk (69no from 74) and Mac Wright (66 off 77) then took advantage of a Victorian attack featuring three debutants and just five games of experience between their five frontline bowlers in a 126-run fourth-wicket stand to seal the win with 34 balls to spare.

Silk is Tasmania’s dour opening batter in the Sheffield Shield but has thrived in the middle order for the back-to-back BBL champions Sydney Sixers and for Tasmania in white-ball cricket.

The 28-year-old had broken the game open with four boundaries (three of them through backward point) off Mackenzie Harvey’s two expensive overs as he posted his second consecutive Marsh Cup half-century following his 77 against Queensland two weeks ago.

"The thing on my side is having a bit of experience in those situations and feeling a bit more like the senior head in that middle order," Silk told cricket.com.au.

"It’s probably the most consistent I’ve been in white-ball cricket but I can’t put it down to any sort of technical or tactical change.

"It’s honestly just games and getting more accustomed to the role and having the support of whichever club I've been at.

"It’s very different to what I do in red-ball cricket but it’s something I really enjoy."

Fresh off Sheffield Shield scores of 124no (against NSW), 73 and 54no (on a tricky MCG surface against Tasmania), Handscomb was metres away from bringing up a fourth one-day century with consecutive sixes but was denied by a terrific boundary-line catch from Silk.

"To be honest I thought … I was a little too far in off the rope and he’d got it over," laughed Silk. "The wind was going that way but thankfully I had enough room to pop it back up.

"(Sam) Harper (51 off 60 balls) and Pete were batting nicely and probably on track for a 300-plus score there at one stage.

"But I thought our spinners were really good through the middle and just straightened our lines a little bit."

The other bright spot for the hosts were the efforts of their three debutants, with the Victorians mobbing spin pair Todd Murphy and Wil Parker as well as quick Brody Couch after each took their maiden wickets.

Murphy had Test captain Tim Paine caught at deep square leg for 36 before Parker trapped Jake Doran lbw with his second delivery to leave Tasmania at 3-90 in the 20th over, while Couch got Wright snared on the fine-leg rope when the result had all but been confirmed.

Handscomb said he had had been impressed by his young bowlers but lamented the team’s shot selection and match awareness.

"To go about it the way we did as a batting unit after (the strong start) was pretty disappointing," said Handscomb. "We’d done all the hard work and just didn’t put it away.

"They’re young and still learning and one of the only ways you learn is by making mistakes, so it’s about growing from these positions and being better for it."

Sent in by Tigers skipper Paine, Victoria eyed off a 300-plus total as Handscomb and Harper rattled along at a run-a-ball despite losing Nic Maddinson, who hit his first two balls for four and swept Jackson Bird for six, for 18.

Harper punished the Tigers quicks off his pads on the way to a 56-ball half-century but he missed a straight one off Ellis to prompt the steady trickle of Victorians through the middle overs.

Player-of-the-match Tom Andrews (3-45 off 10) dismissed Matt Short (21) and Jake Fraser-McGurk (second-ball duck) in the space of three balls to expose the home side’s young middle and lower order.

Numbers five through 11 in the Victorian line-up (none of whom were older than 23 nor had more than four games to their names) contributed 27 runs between them and none reached double digits.

Watching the procession of wickets from the other end as he neared triple-figures, Handscomb eventually hit out against Andrews, smearing him over wide long-on for six to move to 95.

And he might have chalked up a ton had a lesser fielder been under his skied ball the very next delivery but Silk held on to the chance, serenely threw the ball up as he crossed the rope despite having had to back-pedal at pace and caught the rebound back in the field of play.