Fleming's horror run continues

MELBOURNE - Victorian paceman Damien Fleming's hopes of recapturing his Test place this summer were dashed today with the news he could be sidelined for up to six weeks with a neck injury.

Fleming suffered the injury, a bulging disc, on the first morning of the Bushrangers' Pura Cup cricket match against Queensland, which fizzled out to a tame draw here today.

Victoria badly missed Fleming as it was unable to bowl the Bulls out for a second time after forcing them to follow-on.

Martin Love continued his excellent summer with a century, opener Jimmy Maher scored 98 and skipper Stuart Law chimed in with 74 not out as the visitors finished at 6-380.

But there was better news elsewhere for Victoria today with the return of opener Matthew Elliott, following a knee injury, in club cricket.

And despite not having batted since playing English county cricket last winter, Elliott responded with a century for his club side Camberwell.

Fleming's neck injury continues a wretched run of luck for the 30-year-old following knee problems during Australia's tour of New Zealand last March and a broken finger which kept him out of the start of the domestic season. Fleming woke up with the injury on Wednesday and initially team management were unconcerned about the problem, hence the decision to include him in the starting XI against Queensland even though he was eventually unable to bowl in the match.

"He (Fleming) has had a history of sore necks, where he has a bit of physio and works it out and is okay but unfortunately this time it hasn't responded," Victorian chairman of selectors Shaun Graf said tonight.

Graf said Fleming was attempting to remain positive about his latest setback even though the timing could hardly be worse.

"The way he is looking at it, his knee is fantastic, his shoulder is good, his finger has recovered, it's just that his neck is a little bit sore," Graf said.

However, in terms of his hopes for a national recall, the timing is dreadful for Fleming.

The best case scenario for Fleming is to miss only the Vics' four day encounter against Tasmania, which starts at the MCG in 12 days time, and then be fit for the Bushrangers' following Pura Cup match which is not until January 4 against Western Australia in Perth.

But by then the Test series against the West Indies will already be into the fifth and last match in Sydney.

Without Fleming and with the rest of the attack tiring badly, the Vics never looked like scoring their first outright win over Queensland in five years. Love's 126 took 469 minutes while Maher batted for 389 minutes before falling two short of his century when he edged Victorian skipper Paul Reiffel to Darren Berry.

However, their 212 run partnership was the best second wicket stand for Queensland against Victoria at the MCG.

The two first innings points gained by Victoria in this match takes it to equal second on the Pura Cup table with New South Wales on eight points, while Queensland maintains a six point break at the top.