Bushrangers embarrass Bulls

Updated October 07, 2012 22:37:03

Victoria posted a crushing 190-run win over Queensland in their one-day cup encounter in Brisbane on Sunday evening.

The Bushrangers clobbered the Bulls' bowling attack to all parts of the Gabba en route to posting 2 for 379 from their 50 overs, openers Aaron Finch and Rob Quiney each impressing with centuries.

Finch smashed five sixes on his way to 154 from 141 balls and Quiney cleared the boundary rope on three occasions during his 119 from 111 deliveries, the pair putting on 226 for the opening wicket.

The Bulls' run chase never got out of second gear, especially after they slumped to 2 for 9 inside three overs with the loss of Usman Khawaja (4) and Peter Forrest (duck).

The hosts were eventually all out for 189 in the 39th over.

Quiney felt Finch deserved much of the credit for getting the Bushrangers away to a flying start.

"I'm really happy for Aaron Finch at the moment," he told Grandstand.

"He is hitting the ball so well at the moment and his game is really coming together ... hopefully you will hear some big things from Finchy."

Statisticians were kept on their toes after the Bushrangers won the toss and elected to bat.

Finch kept the Bulls bowling attack honest in a remarkable debut as Bushrangers one-day captain.

Not satisfied with a state-record opening stand with Quiney, Finch spanked 14 fours in addition to his sixes to notch the highest score by a Victorian batsman in the 50-over game.

Marking his maiden one-day ton in style, Finch surpassed Brad Hodge's previous record mark of 144 set against New South Wales last season.

It ensured the Bushrangers reached their highest one-day total and the competition's third biggest of all-time behind the Bulls (4 for 405 against Western Australia in 2004).

Finch's aggression also led to another entry in the record books, much to Ben Cutting's frustration.

The Bulls quick finished with 2 for 101 off 12 overs, the most expensive domestic one-day figures ever.

It was a ton Cutting did not want to rack up just days after his maiden first-class century helped inspire the Bulls to a Shield win over South Australia at the same ground.

In draining heat, the Bushrangers openers saved their legs by smashing a total of 24 fours and eight sixes in their brutal opening stand.

The pair piled on the fourth-highest opening partnership in domestic one-day history but it was not that far behind unlikely record holders, Blues toilers John Dyson and Rick McCosker's 253 set way back in 1981.

And there was no let-up when the pair finally departed - former Test opener Chris Rogers (64 not out off 37 balls) and Will Sheridan (28 not out off 12 balls) maintained the rage to ensure yet another record.

It was the most one-day runs conceded by the Bulls, surpassing the Warriors' 6 for 340 set against the Bulls in 2006/07.

The odds were against the Bulls in their run chase from the outset.

Only Joe Burns (50) and Chris Hartley (36 not out) showed some fight as spinner Jon Holland (3 for 49) helped rout the hosts.

ABC/AAP

Tags: cricket, sport, brisbane-4000, qld, melbourne-3000, vic, australia

First posted October 07, 2012 21:03:38

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Bushrangers trounce Warriors in Shield

Updated October 03, 2012 08:19:26

Victoria needed little more than two days of cricket to complete an emphatic outright victory over hapless Western Australia in their Sheffield Shield clash at the WACA ground.

The Bushrangers needed just one ball in their second innings to wrap up the 10-wicket win over the beleaguered Warriors before lunch on the third day.

Having lost their last three second-innings wickets for just eight runs, and the last two without addition to the score, the Warriors were dismissed for 200.

In complete command for the entire match after winning an important toss, the Victorians did not even need to call on the services of Test paceman Peter Siddle (2 for 16), who narrowly missed a hat-trick on the second day, for the third morning.

John Hastings, named man-of-the-match, made the most of the easy pickings to claim 5 for 30 and he finished with seven wickets for the game.

The Bushrangers were left needing just a solitary run to wrap up the victory.

Ironically, former Western Australia opener Chris Rogers ended the home team's misery by flicking Mitchell Johnson's first delivery to the fine-leg boundary for four.

The Warriors were dismissed for 175 on the opening day after being sent in to bat by Bushrangers captain Andrew McDonald and resumed on the third morning at 4 for 91, still 109 runs behind Victoria's first-innings total of 375.

Their hopes of fighting back rested with overnight batsmen, brothers Shaun and Mitchell Marsh.

However, those hopes were dashed in just the sixth over of the day, when Hastings removed the latter for 40.

With just his second ball of a new spell, Hastings lured Marsh into guiding the ball straight into the hands of fellow fast bowler Will Sheridan at point.

Just two overs later, Marsh's elder brother joined him in the pavilion, trapped leg-before by Hastings for 30 as Western Australia slumped to 6 for 106, still needing 94 more to make the Bushrangers bat again.

Only some agricultural batting from Nathan Coulter-Nile, belting 45 from 30 balls, ensured the Victorian openers needed to pad up again.

While it was a perfect start to a new campaign for the Bushrangers, it has been a horrific start to the Shield season for the Warriors, who were thrashed by visiting New South Wales in their season-opener a fortnight ago.

The Warriors, who have been unlucky to lose two crucial tosses on green wickets, have no points after two home games.

The Bushrangers also won last season's match at the WACA by 212 runs.

AAP

Tags: sport, cricket, perth-6000, wa, australia, melbourne-3000, vic

First posted October 02, 2012 15:34:07

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Warriors beat Bushrangers in one-dayer

Updated September 28, 2012 21:47:54

Victoria all-rounder John Hastings made an instant splash in his return from injury but it was a trio of Warriors who stole the show, as Western Australia posted a 25-run victory in Friday's one-day cup match at the WACA ground.

Hastings, making his first competitive appearance for the Bushrangers in almost 18 months after recovering from his fourth shoulder operation, finished with 4 for 59 from 13 overs, as the Warriors posted a competitive 9 for 248.

Man-of-the-match Liam Davis was the Warriors' hero with the bat by posting 93 off 104 balls, before Mitchell Johnson and Nathan Coulter-Nile did the damage with the ball to help dismiss the visitors for 223 in 48.4 overs.

Bushrangers all-rounder Will Sheridan briefly threatened to steal the game away from the Warriors by smacking four consecutive sixes, but Coulter-Nile brought an end to his bludgeoning by sending a delivery crashing into the stumps.

Johnson claimed the key scalps of Rob Quiney (5) and Chris Rogers (35) to finish with 3 for 43 off 11.4 overs, while Coulter-Nile snared 4 for 65 to go with two crucial run-outs.

Johnson was fired up from the beginning after copping a barrage of sledging from a rowdy Bushrangers supporter while warming up during the change of innings.

The 47-Test paceman handled the criticism well, and instead channelled his anger towards the Bushrangers batsmen.

Quiney was the first to feel the heat, with Johnson cannoning a speedy delivery into the batsman's stumps.

And after returning figures of 1 for 11 from his first four-over spell, Johnson returned in the 24th over to trap Rogers leg before wicket at a delicate stage of the Bushrangers' innings.

Even Warriors wicketkeeper Tom Triffitt was in the firing line, with the former Tasmanian hurting his hand attempting to control one of Johnson's deliveries.

The Bushrangers struggled to keep in touch with the required run-rate throughout their innings, and needed some big-hitting heroics after slumping to 4 for 108 after 31 overs.

Andrew McDonald (31 off 34 balls), Michael Hill (40 off 47) and Sheridan (25 off eight) did their best, but the Bushrangers' slow start ended up proving too costly.

The Bushrangers entered the match minus five players on international Twenty20 duties, while pacemen Peter Siddle and James Pattinson were also left out in a bid to leave them fresh for the coming Sheffield Shield clash, starting Sunday.

AAP

Tags: cricket, sport, perth-6000, melbourne-3000

First posted September 28, 2012 21:24:22

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Wade returns for Bushrangers

Updated December 06, 2011 12:20:32

Victoria will be bolstered by the inclusion of in-form wicketkeeper Matthew Wade for Wednesday's one-cay clash against Queensland at the MCG.

Wade missed the Bushrangers' last-start limited-overs victory over Tasmania while he was on Australia A duty.

Steven Reid also comes into the Victorian line-up, with Ryan Carters and Jon Holland dropping out.

Victoria (from): Cameron White (c), Scott Boland, Aaron Finch, Peter Handscomb, Jayde Herrick, Brad Hodge, David Hussey, Andrew McDonald, Clint McKay, Glenn Maxwell, Rob Quiney, Steven Reid, Matthew Wade.

AAP

Tags: sport, cricket, melbourne-3000, vic, australia

First posted December 06, 2011 11:36:16

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Bushrangers prevail at Bellerive

Updated November 08, 2011 08:42:28

Victoria defeated Tasmania by 55 runs in a hard-fought and often-fiery Sheffield Shield encounter at Bellerive Oval on Monday.

Set 318 for an unlikely outright win, the Tigers were all out for 262 late on the final day, the last wicket falling with just 16 balls remaining.

Former Tasmanian Matthew Wade was man of the match for his impressive knocks of 108 and 80, while late-blooming paceman Jayde Herrick had match figures of 7 for 103.

Wade's efforts will not go unnoticed by national selectors, particularly given he made his international debut in Australia's Twenty20 tour of South Africa last month and Tasmania's Tim Paine is battling a recurring finger injury.

Tasmania and Victoria have built up a rivalry which flared several times throughout the four days.

Clint McKay (0 for 42) and Ed Cowan (25) shared some words early on Monday when the fast bowler had an lbw decision turned down.

That came after Tigers skipper George Bailey had been officially reprimanded by Cricket Australia following pointed discussions with the umpires on Sunday.

Bailey had been disputing a decision to give David Hussey the benefit of the doubt when wicketkeeper Brady Jones claimed he had taken a catch low to the ground.

The incident happened early in Hussey and Wade's 150-run stand, which proved to be the only significant partnership in the Victorian second innings.

Tasmania coach Tim Coyle said he accepted Jones's version of events, despite Hussey telling reporters the ball "hand on heart hit the ground".

"I believe that Brady Jones took the catch and I'm sticking with him," Coyle said.

"He's a very honest cricketer. There's no way that he would claim something that wasn't a catch, so I believe Brady Jones."

The Bushrangers appealed quite vociferously on numerous occasions during the Tigers' run chase on Monday, which Wade said was justified on a pitch providing uneven bounce.

"We probably sounded like madmen going up for lbws, but there was a lot of close ones in there. That's the way the wicket was playing," he said.

"There was a lot of balls that maybe would've hit the stumps, maybe wouldn't have."

Wade said an away win against the defending Shield champions would give the Bushrangers a major boost.

"We only had two points so far, so to get six points here is a big scalp," he said.

"We've got a lot of cricket in the next three or four weeks, so if we can run on with it, it'd be great."

However the Bushrangers could be without Cameron White for their Shield game against Western Australia beginning Friday, with the skipper to undergo scans for a side strain.

Meanwhile, Coyle said his team - now winless after three games - was not playing with the same tenacity that yielded its second ever Shield last season.

"We're not sustaining our pressure and our consistency with bat and ball long enough," he said.

"That's what we've got to turn around and get back to what was working for us last year."

But Coyle said he was heartened by Steve Cazzulino's defiant 95 in the opener's first game of the season.

"He just played a perfect innings on the wicket," Coyle said.

"We needed someone to anchor that run chase, so it was either going to be Steve or Ed Cowan who was going to be the key player.

"I thought he did really well. He showed a lot of character."

AAP

Tags: cricket, sport, hobart-7000, tas, melbourne-3000, vic, australia

First posted November 07, 2011 18:28:50

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