Melbourne
A brilliant century from Daniel Hughes and 73 not out from Moises Henriques helped ensure New South Wales will host Western Australia in the Marsh Cup final after a rain-affected seven-wicket win over competition pacesetters Victoria who were vanquished to third spot on the table. Despite 196 from opener Tom Rogers – the sixth-highest score in Australian domestic one-day history – Victoria’s 311 was not enough on Wednesday at the small North Sydney Oval.
After a half-hour rain delay late in the home side’s innings, they cruised to 256 for 3 off 40.5 overs, meaning NSW won with seven balls to spare on their revised target.
While Rogers was the player of the match, Hughes paced NSW’s innings to perfection with his 119 alongside Henriques. The pair shared a 129-run stand to control the chase.
Victoria went into Wednesday’s last round of games on top of the Marsh Cup ladder with only one loss. But the outstanding NSW win, coupled with WA beating Tasmania in Hobart, knocked Victoria out of the February 25 final. It will be played in Sydney at a venue yet to be confirmed with the SCG unavailable.
The loss took the gloss off Rogers’ outstanding innings, which surpassed Aaron Finch’s 188 not out as the highest one-day domestic knock by a Victorian.
Rogers took full toll of the short North Sydney boundaries to hammer 15 fours and 15 sixes. It’s the second-most sixes in a domestic one-day game, behind D’Arcy Short’s 23 in his competition record 257. While Rogers ran amuck, he was the only Victorian batter to savage the NSW bowlers and that proved crucial. Apart from Peter Handscomb’s 52, no other Victorian scored more than 20.
Ben Dwarshuis and Will Salzmann were on hat-tricks and Dwarshuis finished with 4 for 40 from nine overs.
NSW lost an early wicket when opener Jack Edwards fell for six, but Blake McDonald (42) settled in with Hughes for a 110-run stand and then Henriques continued the chase.
By the time Hughes was dismissed in the 39th over, the match was effectively over. It was Hughes’ 11th List A century from only 46 games to go with 11 fifties, at a stunning average of 59.88.
