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Dean's fairytale debut gives Victoria big win

Travis Dean completed the most memorable of debuts to guide Victoria to a first-up Sheffield Shield victory over Queensland with his second century of the day-night match

Victoria 3 for 319 dec (Dean 154*, Handscomb 137) & 1 for 230 (Dean 109*, Stoinis 66*, Quiney 51) beat Queensland 444 (Henry 141, Labuschagne 67, Hastings 4-59) & 103 (Pattinson 3-35, Siddle 3-21) by 9 wickets
Scorecard
Travis Dean completed the most memorable of debuts to guide Victoria to a first-up Sheffield Shield victory over Queensland with his second century of the day-night match.
Only Arthur Morris among Australians had made a hundred in each innings of his state debut, in a non-Shield fixture during the Second World War, and only six batsmen had done the trick in all first-class matches.
Dean's performance was bettered by the fact he was on the field for every minute of the match, making 154 not out in the first innings then finishing unbeaten on 109 as the Bushrangers eased past a fourth-innings target of 229.
That chase had been set up by an opportunistic declaration from the Bushrangers captain, Matthew Wade, who closed the hosts' first innings 125 runs behind and then watched his bowlers rush through Queensland for 103 under the MCG lights on the third evening.
Dean, 23, and Rob Quiney had negotiated the difficult 15 overs before stumps that night, before finding the job to be much more straightforward on Saturday afternoon. After Quiney was lbw to Ben Cutting for the second time in the match, Dean maintained his comfort at the crease in the company of Marcus Stoinis, and the target was whittled down quickly.
For a panel of national selectors still searching for organised, prolific batsmen the likes of who shape international teams, Dean's performance will be of considerable note. He was chosen ahead of Aaron Finch, a more conspicuously talented batsman who has nonetheless failed to become a consistent Shield run-maker.
Over the past 12 months, Dean has been a dominant figure in second XI matches, amassing scores of 217*, 116 and 187* in his three most recent games before his Shield call-up. Many in Australian cricket will be hoping to see him maintain that sort of form.