Victoria went into the Pura Cup
finals as favorites leading all sides by 14 to 16 points on the
table ,and were clearly the dominant side within the Pura Cup
competition.
Victoria started well on the first day after Queensland captain
Jimmy Maher won the toss and sent Victoria in, Mathew Elliot led
the way after the start with a great century and made an opening
partnership of 165 with Jason Arnberger, and then a 2nd
partnership of 171 with Hodge .At the end of the day Victoria
was 1/322. The next day saw 3 wickets fell early and Cameron
White and Jon Moss then put on a great partnership of 131, White
made 62 and Jon Moss afterwards went onto make 98, previously
Matt Elliot made 155 Brad Hodge 89 and Jason Arnberger back from
injury 90. At the end of day 2 Victoria had moved to a
commanding position of 6/592, still hungry for runs Victoria
continued to bat for a bigger total the biggest in Shield/Pura
Cup finals of 710 the next day, Harvey made 62, Mcdonald 41 and
Darren Berry 61 not out.
From this position Victoria
was impregnable and only needed to draw the match to win
considering they had home ground advantage. Queensland responded
as a side that was beaten and at the end of the 3rd day they
were 6/177, with Maher 72 and Perren 40 the main contributors,
although the flu infected Martin Love went on next day to post
65 not out. Victoria unlike their other counterparts bowled well
and leg spinner Cameron White caused a breakdown in the
Queensland order taking 4/66 and Moss chipped in with 3 for 18
.As is suggested Queendland did not long last the next day and
went onto score 275, and so Victoria batted again and batted for
a short time for 1/140, Arnberger 72 not out and Elliot 55
batted quickly giving Victoria a lead of 565 for Queensland to
chase in 1 and half days.
The innings did not start
too well and Queensland lost the 2 key wickets of Maher and Love
before stumps .On day 5 the procession of wickets carried on by
the hand of Mick Lewis who took 6 for 59. Stuart Law playing his
last first class game stood out for the Queenslanders making a
dogged 72, the other batsmen were hardly worth mentioning and
Queensland was all out mid lunch and tea for the low total of
254.
After that the Victorians
who had lost coach David Hookes in a tragic incident went onto
celebrate wildly as they had not won a premiership since the
1990/91 season. Mathew Elliot was named man of the match to
follow the award of player of the season, after scoring a
massive 1400 odd runs this season eclipsing the previous record,
and scoring 8 centuries.
In the post speech by
captain Darren Berry he remembered David Hookes as did all the
team in their off field celebrations, and Berry also announced
his retirement from first class cricket.
The Pura final will not be
remembered for a battle rather a performance of dominance by a
team which dominated the competition so completely this season,
it was a well deserved win and a great display of power cricket,
one people should remember, one a deceased David Hookes would be
happy with.
Victoria
Vs Queensland at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (Match
Result : Victoria won by 231 runs)
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Close of Play
- Day 1:
Victoria 322/1 (Elliott 140*, Hodge 85*, 96 overs)
- Day 2:
Victoria 592/6 (Harvey 34*, McDonald 37*, 186 overs)
- Day 3:
Victoria 710, Queensland 177/6 (Love 22*, Bichel 2*, 64
overs)
- Day 4:
Queensland 275, Victoria 140/1d, Queensland 56/2 (Perren
32*, Law 8*, 16 overs)
Victoria (1st
Inns) 710 all out (Elliott 155; Noffke 3/104)
Queensland (1st
Inns) 275 all out (Maher 72; White 4/66)
Victoria (2nd
Inns) 140/1 dec (Arnberger 72; Hauritz 1/54)
Queensland (2nd
Inns) 254 all out (Law 72; Lewis 6/59)
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