Another Victorian batting collapse clears path for Redbacks' win

Victoria is in danger of becoming known as the "bonus point team" after another average performance allowed South Australia to walk away with a six-wicket win and five points from their Mercantile Mutual Cup clash here at the Punt Road ground in Melbourne.

The result comes just under a month after Victoria gave away five points to New South Wales at the North Sydney Oval, losing by a whopping eight wickets.

The team now has two losses from three matches, compared to today's opponents South Australia, who are second-placed on the table with two wins from four matches. But for their agonising three-run loss to Western Australia in a Perth day-nighter in last month, the Redbacks could be even better placed.

So it was a good victory for them. And a rather easy one. It was achieved with fifty-three deliveries to spare in a rain-reduced 37-overs-a-side game, their bonus point coming for scoring at a run rate of 5.08, more than one and a half times better than the Bushrangers' 3.81.

After losing the toss, the Victorians were sent in by the Redbacks. And both captains said after the match that this was one of the crucial moments of the day.

"The wicket obviously had a bit in it early, so it was a good toss to win. We bowled really well and fielded well. We got the process right. It was a very good win," said South Australian captain Darren Lehmann.

The home team always looked uncomfortable, quickly falling to 1/9 in the fifth over. Shawn Craig (28 off sixty-five balls) and Brad Hodge (34 off fifty-nine) then set about steadying the ship, but their fifty-seven run partnership was broken when Hodge fell lbw to Ryan Harris.

Victorian bats then faltered with disconcerting regularity, with Michael Klinger (41*) the only batsman to show any resistance. Jason Gillespie, fired up by the prospect of a possible return to the national side later this month in Australia's first Test against West Indies in Brisbane, tore through the feeble Bushranger line-up to claim 3/27 off his eight overs. He received good support from the fielders, and also from fellow bowler Harris, who returned figures of 2/29 off seven overs.

The Bushrangers' total, boosted by a last-over flurry of fourteen runs - including a six to Klinger and a boundary to John Davison (8*) - reached 8/141 in the end. But, as captain Paul Reiffel conceded after the match, it was just not competitive enough.

"Just wasn't good enough. A hundred and forty one was never going to be enough. Two hundred would've been a good score. We went out there and had a crack but one hundred and forty was not going to be enough to put pressure on them," he said.

It was Reiffel's early wickets (two off consecutive overs) which provided a glimmer of hope to the home side, but South Australia was just too good.

Twenty-one year old Chris Davies set up the visitors' win, scoring a solid 62 off seventy-nine balls, including four boundaries. Lehmann (39 off forty-six) also made a valuable contribution and, by halfway through their innings, it seemed the only thing still to be decided was the bonus point. Brad Young (14*) ensured its acquisition with a four off Ian Harvey (0/19 off 2.1 overs) from the first ball of the twenty-ninth over. Reiffel finished with the best figures, 2/24 off six overs.

For his team, the only real positives from the match were the performances of Klinger and Ben Oliver (1/37 off eight overs). But Reiffel said the talented young pair should not have had to face the kind of pressures they did today.

"They're a must for our side but the other guys need to perform as well," he said.

Reiffel defended the choice to open with the struggling Craig, saying "he's the man we picked to open and he gets our backing".

Reiffel added that Victoria's first-class match against West Indies, which begins this Friday at the MCG, would be a good opportunity for some of the players to find form. It is also hoped that Australian fast bowler Damien Fleming will make his comeback in that match, after three weeks out with a fractured finger. The Bushrangers' captain said the team to take on the West Indians, which will be decided in a selection meeting tomorrow, is also likely to include young gun Oliver, who has been twelfth man for the team's last two Pura Cup matches. But the skipper himself will be resting.

No matter who plays, Victoria will be desperate for a win. And as Reiffel surmised this evening, "there's nothing like winning for confidence and doing well in both batting and bowling. We've just got to go out there and do it."