Bushrangers overpower disappointing Tasmania

Another dismal Tasmanian batting performance has handed Victoria a comfortable outright success in the Pura Cup match between the teams at the Melbourne Cricket Ground today. The Bushrangers ended with a 179 run win after the visitors collapsed - again - on their way to a measly second innings total of 173.

The Tasmanians had resumed at 3/54 this morning as it chased the unlikely target of 353 for victory. But, after a debilitating batting collapse on Friday, a Tasmanian triumph never shaped as a likely outcome. And, when Paul Reiffel (3/32) seized the wickets of specialist batsmen Andrew Dykes (17) and Scott Mason (9) early in the day, only one result looked vaguely likely.

Youngsters Scott Kremerskothen (41) and Sean Clingeleffer (38) underlined their potential, bravely defying the inevitable with a sixty-seven run stand for the seventh wicket before the former fell to an lbw decision shortly after lunch. From there, it was a quick slide to defeat for the Tigers. The loss of Kremerskothen helped prompt a slide which saw the last four wickets fall for the addition of just nineteen runs.

After mopping up the tail, Ian Harvey (3/17) garnered the best figures among an even Victorian attack. But it was man of the match Reiffel who was the pick of the bowlers throughout. In his two spells with the new ball in this match, the Victorian captain ripped the heart out of the Tasmanian batting line-up and his opponents never recovered. It was fitting, too, that he should have used this match to surpass Alan Connolly and set a new record for the number of wickets taken by a Victorian bowler in the history of Sheffield Shield-Pura Cup competition.

We needed that win," said a relieved Reiffel after the match.

"Last Sunday (when the Victorians were defeated by nine wickets by the Tasmanians in a Mercantile Mutual Cup match) was the worst loss we've had. But we knew this was a different form of the game and we had been playing good four-day cricket.

Over the four days, the Victorians barely put a foot wrong. Matthew Elliott and Matthew Mott plundered the Tasmanian bowling on the first day; Reiffel and new ball partner Mathew Inness made the Tasmanian top order look a shambles on the second; Jason Arnberger and Brad Hodge batted well on the third; and the bowlers again performed an effective job late on the third and early on the fourth.

It all made for a much-needed win that vaults the Victorians into second place on the Pura Cup table in preparation for their string of away games in the new year.

"We had to show some a bit of spine and we did," said Reiffel.

Unfortunately, the same comment was probably not being made in the dressing rooms of a Tasmanian side that today recorded its fourth successive sub-200 total this summer. Things go from bad to worse for the Tasmanians and, only halfway through the 2000-01 season, the goal of appearing in a Pura Cup Final looks a distant dream.