Victoria back on track with two in two

Victoria 7 for 178 (Hussey 54, Geeves 3-36) beat Tasmania 7 for 171(Geeves 40) by seven runs
Scorecard
Victoria are back on track in the Twenty20 competition with a second successive win following their first loss in the tournament last week. In a top-of-the-table encounter they beat Tasmania by seven runs.

The home side reached the highest score of the three games on Tuesday evening, putting on 7 for 178 as their assault on the competition continued and this time Tasmania's bowlers were in the line of fire. Cannons saluted every six and David Hussey led them with three in a 33-ball 54 which will once again prick the national selectors' attention, particularly as he went on to take a wicket, two catches and effect a run-out.

It wasn't just the bat that thrilled - Brett Geeves was on a hat-trick, after bowling Adam Crosthwaite and Shane Harwood in the last over, but Clinton McKay defended and the damage had already been done. Travis Birt responded with 40 and Geeves threatened late on with the bat but wickets fell with enough regularity for Victoria to take the honours.

Western Australia5 for 98 (Voges 36*) beat South Australia 97 by 5 wickets
Scorecard
In Adelaide, South Australia engaged in what's becoming a familiar decline and fall in front of their home fans this competition. Western Australia sent them in on an Adelaide Oval pitch which held no demons but was rather slow and, already out of contention, their batsmen couldn't salvage any pride as Brett Dorey and Ben Edmondson blew them away for 97, the lowest score in the tournament.

However, they did fight back with the ball to put on some kind of show, even if it wasn't really a contest following their batting where no partnership passed 20 as the batsmen either got themselves out - such as when Daniel Christian holed out to deep square leg, or Mark Cosgrove chopped down a cut onto his sticks - or were got out, Aaron Heal removing Callum Ferguson with a pearler which did too much.

At 8 for 85 and in the mire, the spectators raised a cheer for Shaun Tait's entry and they enjoyed his bowling, too. But unlike another returning hero - Glenn McGrath - he couldn't do it all alone (although Ryan Harris did his best to help, with two wickets). But he did entertain, knocking back Luke Ronchi's middle stump, the batsman's third duck in five matches here this season, and then found Sean Ervine's edge with one that was just too quick.

He was pacy throughout his spell, continuing in style from his Chappell-Hadlee exploits, and rewarded the near-10,000 crowd. Dan Cullen then tempted David Bandy too far and at 5 for 46 the visitors were wobbling slightly but Adam Voges saw them home with an unbeaten 36. Losing captain Nathan Adcock said the Redbacks had underestimated the pitch - "Looking back 140 would have been a really good score on that, whereas you're normally thinking 170" - while Voges was concentrating on the next crucial encounter, against the Blues this Thursday: "It's basically in our own hands, hopefully we can go to Sydney now and get the points."

New South Wales 8 for 121 (Thornely 40) beat Queensland 115 (Smith 4-15) by six runs
Scorecard
New South Wales recorded a close victory courtesy of McGrath's inspirational comeback. They were defending only 121 - and were lucky that Dominic Thornely's 40 boosted them to even that after slipping to 6 for 61 - but McGrath's familiar line and length provided the squeeze they needed and then Steven Smith grabbed four wickets including one off the last ball when the visitors were six runs behind to seal the deal.

Despite starting with a wide, McGrath's measly spell of 1 for 11 off four overs reminded the fans, and the opposition, of his capabilities - his wicket Jimmy Maher, caught by Brad Haddin - and he was in good shape ahead of the Indian Twenty20 competition. The Blues kept up the tight bowling and four wickets in two overs - two to Smith, one to Beau Casson and a run-out - handed the momentum firmly to the home side. Queensland could not recover and came up short in the last over, bowled by Smith, who grabbed another two in his final over to end with 4 for 15.

Team	Mat	Won	Lost	Tied	N/R	Pts	Net RR	For	Against
Tasmania	4	3	1	0	0	6	+1.324	652/69.0	650/80.0
Victoria	4	3	1	0	0	6	+0.660	705/80.0	640/78.3
W Australia	4	3	1	0	0	6	+0.442	630/75.0	626/78.4
New South Wales	4	2	2	0	0	4	+0.143	555/77.0	564/79.5
Queensland	4	0	3	0	1	1	-0.933	409/60.0	465/60.0
South Australia	4	0	3	0	1	1	-2.306	358/60.0	364/44.0