Victoria claim early advantage against Tasmania

In a battle of the bottom rung teams, Victoria made big strides against Tasmania on day one at the MCG. In the experimental day-night first-class game, with the experimental pink ball, Victoria bowled Tasmania out for 206, before getting to 0 for 56 by stumps.

Tasmania had chosen to bat and were off to a solid start, with Mark Cosgrove and Ed Cowan taking them to 0 for 82. But then Cosgrove was run out on 55 by pacer Jake Reed, and it was all downhill for Tasmania: they would not string together another half-century stand in the innings. Reed claimed another couple of top-order scalps, as did legspinner Fawad Ahmed, and Tasmania had slipped to 5 for 158. Ben Dunk and Tim Paine steadied the innings briefly, before another cluster of wickets meant the visitors went from 5 for 200 to 206 all out.

Victoria's openers Rob Quiney and Dean Russ then backed up their bowlers, negotiating safely to stumps to make sure the first day belonged their team. They'd be hoping to grow their advantage on day two; Victoria have won only one game in the season so far and this being the penultimate round of league games, they're already well out of contention for the final, but will still be fighting to lift themselves out of last place on the table.