Hodge, Lewis spark dramatic Victorian revival

It was the dismissal of Victorian batsman Brad Hodge which had acted as the turning point of the first day's play of the Pura Cup Final against Queensland here at the 'Gabba ground in Brisbane yesterday. So there could barely have been a better way of redressing the balance than for Hodge's part-time off spin to stimulate another dramatic reversal late on day two.

Hodge (3/19) linked forces with paceman Michael Lewis (5/57) to restore hope where very little had seemingly existed for the Bushrangers, inspiring a remarkable slide from the home team which saw it surrender seven wickets in less than two hours after tea.

In the process, the visitors restricted the Bulls to a disappointing first innings tally of 242 and a lead of only sixty-six runs. It was an advantage which had threatened to swell to far more serious proportions after vigilant nightwatchman Ashley Noffke (43) had batted through the entirety of the first two sessions and helped Clinton Perren (56) and Martin Love (24) to steer the locals into a very sound position.

For four hours, the Victorian attack had seemed largely innocuous. Conjecture clearly overrode conviction at different moments as captain Paul Reiffel sought in vain to stumble upon the right combinations in the utilisation of his bowlers and the arrangement of his field settings. At times, the ease with which his attack was being resisted was so obvious that it even seemed that a run out was rapidly becoming the most likely means by which the Bushrangers might break through; one crucial such opportunity slipping them by as point fieldsman Jonathan Moss aimed wide of Perren's stumps when the pugnacious right hander had just eleven runs alongside his name.

Prior to a fateful final session, nothing looked more certain than that Queensland was on its way to establishing a mountainous first innings lead. As they delighted in an uncomplicated vigil from Noffke which ate up as many as 204 deliveries and 254 minutes, the good-natured mood of a crowd of 4071 certainly underlined this.

Scarcely before there was time to digest tea, though, Hodge then showed the folly of such an assumption by changing the entire complexion of the match with the opening two balls after the break. The first - tossed well up - induced a loose drive from Noffke and sent the ball arrowing to a grateful Matthew Elliott at slip. The second was a delightful delivery, again well flighted but this time pitching on the line of off stump, beating a defensive push and dethroning Queensland captain Stuart Law (0) straight in front of his castle.

Two wickets had fallen in four hours and now the next two had been surrendered in the space of three minutes. Brendan Nash (10) calmly denied the possibility of a Hodge hat-trick by driving back along the pitch but the tone for a late afternoon revival had been set. The part-time off spinner later returned to remove tailender Adam Dale (4) as he set about capitalising on a day of dutiful, wholehearted labour from Lewis - the one bowler who had been able to maintain a semblance of hostility throughout the innings.

For a short time in the final session, Lewis threatened to undo much of his good work by suddenly deciding to bowl too short and offering a counter-attacking Andy Bichel (28) the chance to smite three boundaries from consecutive balls. But he quickly regained his composure and re-aligned accuracy with velocity to claim career-best figures.

Much like Noffke yesterday, the right armer from Northcote didn't find perfect line and length in his opening overs from the Stanley Street End, whistling several deliveries well wide of the stumps. But the wicket of Jimmy Maher (25) came from one such ball - as the left hander played a cross-batted shot at a delivery down leg side that he might have been better advised to leave alone altogether - and any sense of nervousness seemed to ease quickly after that.

"Obviously, we only had 176 on the board and we knew they were going to try and bat us into the ground today. We had to stick to our guns, stick to the way that we've bowled all year, and that's the way we did it in the end," enthused Lewis.

"It was pretty warm out there and I was pretty tired by the end. Struggling to even lift my legs."

"But if you bowl the right lines and lengths, eventually you're going to get the rewards. That's what we just tried to concentrate on (doing) today and a few things ultimately fell our way."

There was a remarkable symmetry to events of yesterday and today: only one batsman registered a half-century and only one other headed into the forties before two bowlers combined to share eight wickets between them. The only real difference was that there was greater sting in the Queensland tail, experienced campaigners Bichel and Wade Seccombe (33*) combining well to add an invaluable fifty runs for the eighth wicket.

Now comes Victoria's turn to finally uncover the method of producing the large total that a generally benign pitch would seem to demand. Openers Jason Arnberger (2) and Elliott (0) have already negotiated the first over; the Bushrangers will be hoping that they survive many more unscathed tomorrow on what might well prove to be the deciding day of this always-engrossing season.