Day3: Inness-capable excitement accompanies Victorian triumph
Left arm paceman Matthew Inness (6/70) is the toast of Victorian cricket tonight after a spectacular late afternoon performance brought with it a series of glorious rewards for him and his team on day three of the Pura Milk Cup clash against New South Wales at the Punt Road ground in Melbourne. It was Inness indeed who claimed the first hat-trick at first class level by a bowler from his State in seventy-one years to send the Blues crashing toward a second innings total of 290 and defeat by ten wickets.
Shortly after the final drinks break of the day, the gangly left armer dismissed Shawn Bradstreet (0), Mark Higgs (0) and Trent Johnston (0) with successive balls to bring a sparse crowd to life and usher in understandable scenes of jubilation on the ground itself. They were three excellent deliveries too - the first cut away outside the line of off stump before attracting an outside edge and flying low to first slip; the second was closer to off, slightly fuller, and found an edge to third slip; and the third pitched on leg stump and straightened to draw a leg before wicket verdict.
Prior to Inness' dramatic intervention, the Blues' beleaguered players had actually been enjoying one of their better days in a lean season. To match some weather which stood in contrast to the conditions of yesterday, the New South Welshmen indeed brought with them a bright approach to their batting through the early part of the day. There was still the occasional hint of disconcerting bounce in the straw-coloured pitch, but their top order nullified the problem with distinction. With an intelligent mixture of defence and attack, it was young opener Greg Mail (97) who loomed as its most impressive member; his admirable concentration and discipline complemented by some fine strokeplay during a four and a half hour-long vigil. It was certainly unfortunate to see him play a rare loose drive at a wide Michael Lewis (1/47) delivery when a tantalising three runs short of registering what would have been a richly deserved maiden first class century.
Together with Corey Richards (76), the fluency of whose strokeplay represented a welcome turnaround at the end of a tough season for him, Mail dominated the first half of the day's play. For a long period indeed, the only factor that seemed likely to upset the Blues' recovery was some dubious umpiring. A doubtful enough lbw verdict against opener Brett van Deinsen (20) by Umpire Patterson was made to look even worse when television replays subsequently showed that the successful bowler Paul Reiffel (3/67) had clearly overstepped the crease. Then, after Mail and Richards had been parted, both Matthew Phelps (also lbw to Reiffel for 13) and Brad Haddin (adjudged to be caught behind for 1 as he glanced at a leg side ball from Inness) appeared a little unlucky to lose their wickets too.
But, such has been the Blues' incapacity to threaten other sides for any length of time this season, the late collapse which saw them surrender a disastrous seven wickets for fifty runs was probably to be anticipated. The pyrotechnical heroics of Inness aside, there was indeed something remarkably familiar about watching a succession of New South Wales' batsmen flailing away with little conviction. There was also a certain sense of the commonplace as Matthew Elliott (22*) and Jason Arnberger (8*) polished off the twenty-nine runs necessary for Victoria to claim a ten wicket win in the half hour of extra play claimed at the end of the day.
