Victoria swiftly Sam Elliott nearly single-handedly led Victoria to a four-wicket victory over Tasmania in Melbourne, recording the second-best numbers in Australian One-Day domestic cricket history. Elliott also made the winning runs in a crucial half-century partnership with captain Will Sutherland.
Under gloomy conditions on a very green surface at the Junction Oval, Elliott tore through Tasmania’s lineup in just his 11th List A match, finishing with 7 for 12. Shaun Tait, a former speedster from South Australia, is the only man in the competition’s history to have better stats (8 for 43).
Elliott remarked, “I don’t know how to describe it.” “It was simply one of those days where everything felt really fantastic and sort of clicked.
“I’ve never had better figures [at any level] than [these]. It was a rather pleasant day to play the first One-Day Cup of the season.”
Following their collapse to 72 for 6, Elliott then shone with the bat alongside Sutherland to preserve Victoria from certain doom. Together, they scored an unbroken 56 for the seventh wicket, leading their team to victory with 23.1 overs remaining. In his 19 not out, the right-handed Elliott unleashed a couple of stunning pull shots that resembled the reverse of those his left-handed father Matthew Elliott played in his 21 Test matches for Australia.
Elliott remarked, “I think [Dad] might have me covered on those ones.” “To improve my hitting, I travelled to Darwin over the winter.
“Having a brief collaboration with Chief [Sutherland] at the end was incredibly pleasant. It was good to act under a little pressure and do that.”
Sutherland finished 36 not out with a sophisticated and composed knock. After grabbing five catches behind the stumps, Sam Harper had previously hit a crucial 43 opening the batting, the highest score of the game.
Even before Elliott joined the onslaught, Tasmania was under siege from the outset. Perfect bowling conditions saw them called into bat, and they lost Mitch Owen and Caleb Jewell in the first eight overs, leaving the visiting team at 31 for 2. Elliott was then called on, and with his extra bounce and late seam movement, he wrecked havoc on Tasmania’s middle order in eight overs bowled without a single change of wicket.
With the first ball he faced, he trapped Jake Weatherald behind, and after the left-hander raced to 31 from 31 with six boundaries, he claimed Jordan Silk. Three of Elliott’s seven victims holed up in the ring, attempting to strike him off his constant lengths, while four of his victims were trapped behind.
At one point, Brad Hope fell, and Tasmania collapsed to 92 for 9, with him having numbers of 7 for 8 with two maidens. Sutherland granted him a break after he handed up five singles in his last two overs.
Elliott disclosed that during the warm-up, he had modified his release technique.
“I actually changed something at the start of the game with my wrist,” Elliott explained. Although a little erratic, it seemed as though the good balls were excellent. The most exciting thing, in my opinion, is that I can probably resume training and focus on a few consistency issues. things’s fortunate that things worked out right away.”
Additionally, he disclosed that he had worked with Victoria bowling coach Adam Griffith to improve his run-up speed throughout the preseason and had strengthened up significantly in the gym to maintain it during games.
“In Darwin for our pre-season thing I wasn’t quite bowling the way I wanted to,” Elliott stated. “After that, we looked at certain statistics when we got back and made the decision to make that our main focus going into our preseason games in Sydney. and after that into the present.”
Gabe Bell and Matthew Kuhnemann, Tasmania’s last pairing, put up 34 for the tenth wicket to guarantee Victoria was at least chasing more than 120.
At one point, Beau Webster and Tasmania’s Tom Rogers appeared to be able to defend 126 as they ripped through Victoria’s top order, following Elliott’s strategy.
Josh Brown, a recent recruit, opened for Victoria instead of Thomas Rogers, who had opened for Victoria against New South Wales in his previous One-Day Cup encounter last summer, scoring 196. Rogers tried to bat at No. 5, but he was unable to get going.
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The scoreboard moved forward because of Harper’s ability to seize each opportunity, but the home team was well behind when Sutherland and Elliott helped them out.
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