Jewell drives Victoria to four-wicket triumph

Victoria 301 and 6 for 264 (Jewell 91*, Hussey 53, Cleary 3-56, Harris 3-65) beat South Australia 320 and 244 by four wickets
Scorecard

Nick Jewell ground out a match-winning 91, batting for nearly six hours as Victoria jumped to the top of the Pura Cup table with victory over South Australia. Chasing 264 on the final day, the Bushrangers reached their target with four wickets in hand and fittingly Jewell was there at the finish.

David Hussey made an important contribution, adding 53 from 45 balls after two quick wickets had breathed life back into South Australia. Again the Redbacks had a sniff when Hussey and Cameron White (0) were bowled by consecutive Mark Cleary deliveries and the home side was 5 for 168.

But Jewell, batting on his home club ground at St Kilda's Junction Oval, held the innings together with assistance from Andrew McDonald, the first-innings century-maker, who added 36. Matthew Wade was with Jewell at the finish and struck the winning runs, reaching 13 not out.

Victoria began the day still needing 220 with nine wickets in hand, and a very useful partnership between Jewell and the night-watchman Peter Siddle put them on track. Siddle, who on the third day had taken a career-best six wickets, threw in a career-best score of 28 for good measure.

He was eventually out lbw to Ryan Harris, who soon trapped Brad Hodge (2) in front as well. Harris and Cleary each finished with three wickets but the Redbacks' undoing was their inability to remove Jewell, who sits behind Hussey as Victoria's second leading run scorer this summer.