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Pura Cup - VIC v WA

Saturday, November 22 2003

Pura Cup – Victoria v Western Australia at Junction Oval (Melbourne)

Game 8 of this seasons Pura Cup saw the Victorian Bushrangers up against the Western Warriors at the notoriously batsman friendly Junction Oval.

Warriors skipper Justin Langer won the toss & predictably elected to bat on a typically flat surface.
Langer & in form partner Mike Hussey saw off the opening bowlers & were beginning to take charge before both were removed by left arm paceman Allan Wise , leaving the score on 2-51.
Chris Rogers & Murray Goodwin then played cautiously until the lunch interval , opening their shoulders after the break , they were severe on all the bowlers , particularly Bushrangers captain Cameron White (0-72) , eventually taking their stand to 136 before Goodwin was well caught by Matthew Elliott off Matt Inness for 70 (9 fours) , Marcus North looked in scratchy form during his innings of 10 , eventually being trapped leg before by Mick Lewis.
Unfortunately the Warriors batting lacked common sense from this point on , several batsman throwing their wickets away through poor shot selection as the last 6 wickets fell for just 40 runs , medium pacer Andrew McDonald was a standout performer , taking 4-35 , including Rogers for an impressive 103 (7 fours , 1 six) as the Warriors were all out for a below par 273.
Matthew Mott & Matt Elliott then took the score to 12 for no loss at stumps.


Mott fell early the next day , gloving behind off impressive paceman John Taylor for 22 , however thunder storms soon hit & no more play was possible on day 2.


Success was rare for the Warriors from that point on as the in form pairing of Brad Hodge & Elliott put on an enterprising 114 run stand , Elliott eventually holing out off spinner Beau Casson for 70 (8 fours) , a further stand of 76 between Hodge & Jon Moss all but batted the Warriors out of the game , before Hodge edged Paul Wilson behind for an even 100 (11 fours) , his fourth hundred in all forms of cricket this summer.
Moss continued on to 52 & David Hussey to 24 before both were dismissed by Taylor , skipper White then scored an unbeaten 58 (8 fours , 1 six) at almost a run a ball before declaring at 9-355. First innings points as well as an 82 run lead safely in the bag.
Taylor with 4-70 was easliy the pick of the Warriors bowlers while Wilson & Casson took 2 wickets each.
Openers Hussey & Langer then elected to take the aggressive route rather than simply seeing out the day , both registering half centuries before the Warriors closed the day on 0-100 , dashing almost any hope of an outright result.

The two left handers then took their stand to 123 before Hussey was dismissed by Mick Lewis for 53 , Ryan Campbell (19) & Murray Goodwin (53) then both shared fruitful partnerships with Langer before he was caught by Mott off White for 96 (7 fours , 2 sixes) .
However as in the first innings the Warriors lower order collapsed horribly , loosing their last 7 wickets for only 29 runs , Lewis was the chief destroyer , bagging 5-58 , the Warriors all out for 265 , leaving the Bushrangers an improbable 184 to win.

They lost Matt Elliott run out for 2 , however Mott & Hodge then played out time , Hodge finishing on 20 , Mott on 12.

The Bushrangers taking 2 points for their first innings win.

Summary – Victorian Bushrangers 355 (Hodge 100 , Elliott 71 , 4-70) & 1-35 (Hodge 20*) drew with Western Warriors 273 (Rogers 103 , Goodwin 70 , McDonald 4-35) 265 (Langer 65 , Hussey 57 , Lewis 5-58) at Junction Oval
Victoria take first innings points



Posted by DavidH