Taylor returns to haunt Victoria

Western Australia 270 for 5 (Langer 115, North 84*) beat Victoria (Elliott 59, McDonald 55, Taylor 3-27) by 101 runs
Scorecard

John Taylor, the former Victoria bowler, returned to torment his old side as Western Australia scooted clear at the top of the ING Cup table with a 101-run win.

Taylor, who took 3 for 27 from 10 overs, set up the successful push for a bonus point in his third domestic one-day match in overcast conditions at the WACA. Justin Langer's 115 from 145 balls earlier provided the backbone to the WA innings, while Marcus North (84*) provided the flair in their total of 5 for 270. Victoria will be kickings themselves after having had WA in early trouble at 3 for 19 before Langer steered them to a healthy total.

Chasing 271 to win, Victoria made 169 from 44.2 overs as WA marched to a five-point lead after five matches. The efforts of Taylor, who moved west at the beginning of last summer, also sent a message to WA's selectors after being dumped from the Pura Cup side.

Matthew Elliott's 59 provided the only resistance at the top of the order, while Andrew McDonald scored an unbeaten half-century, but they weren't nearly enough. The result left Victoria on 10 points from five matches as they crashed to their 25th one-day loss in 31 matches against WA.

Adam Gilchrist, who dropped Rahul Dravid at a crucial time in the Adelaide Test against India, enjoyed some valuable catching practice by taking five scalps. Indeed, Victoria's large run chase had hardly got started before Jon Moss miscued a Taylor delivery to a diving Murray Goodwin. Nick Jewell started to show signs of settling in before he was caught behind to become Taylor's second victim.

Ian Harvey ballooned a simple catch to his namesake Kade off Peter Worthington. The rot then set in for Victoria when David Hussey was given a send off after being Taylor's third scalp soon after.

Worthington had Graeme Rummans caught behind before Harvey dropped a difficult chance at point off Brendan Joseland's bat on the very next delivery. The score meandered to 94 before Gilchrist took his fourth catch of the night to rid Joseland off Harvey's medium-pacers.

Elliott's innings came to an end after reaching a half-century, and his dismissal by Brad Hogg signalled the end of Victoria's challenge.