Near-miss for Hodge but Victoria find their mark

Victoria 9 for 379 (Hodge 98, Wade 62, Rogers 61) lead New South Wales 227 by 152 runs
Scorecard
Points table

Brad Hodge missed a hundred by two runs as he was responsible for building a healthy lead for Victoria against New South Wales on the second day. Hodge, who was troubled by a hamstring injury last month, led the Bushrangers' strong reply to the Blues' 227 as the competition leaders eased to 9 for 379.

After starting cautiously, Hodge increased his speed and struck 47 from his final 37 deliveries to leave with 98. He was bowled by Aaron Bird after improving on the work done by Chris Rogers, who began with 61. All of the Victoria batsmen made starts and Matthew Wade's 62 ensured the total passed 300.

A promising sign for the Blues was the performance of Beau Casson, who took 3 for 113 - although Hodge did cause some damage to his figures. Less than a year ago Casson was playing in a Test, but he was dropped from national calculations and has spent some time in the state's 2nd XI. Bird, whose suspect action has been reported by Cricket Australia, gained 3 for 94 while Burt Cockley grabbed 3 for 54.