Short and Elliott star as Victoria go top of the table

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Short and Elliott star as Victoria go top of the table


Victory 160 for 4 (short 81*) time Tasmania 156 (Webster 47, Elliott 5-26, O’Neill 3-33) by six wickets

Victoria jumped to the top of the national one-day table after securing a convincing six-wicket victory over Tasmania in a low-scoring contest in Launceston.

After captain Peter Handscomb won the toss and elected to bowl first, Victoria bowled the home team for 156 with quick Sam Elliott taking 4 for 26.

In just his eighth 50-over game for his state, Elliott, the son of former Test opener Matthew, jumped into the lower order to finish with career-best figures.

Elliott also claimed the crucial wicket of Beau Webster, with the danger dismissed for a maximum of 47 innings.

In-form opening bowler Fergus O’Neill did the early damage, clearing Tasmania’s top order of Matthew Wade, Caleb Jewell and Charlie Wakim.

They were left reeling at 42 for 4 after those breakthroughs and the hosts could never recover to post a defendable total.

Victoria, led by star opener Matthew Short, took their time in the chase but were able to claim their fourth win of the season with 14 overs to spare.

They had briefly faltered at 105 for 4 when Peter Handscomb and Sam Harper fell in quick succession, the latter bowled by a beauty from left-arm bowler Paddy Dooley, who had taken a fine catch at fine leg to remove Handscomb.

But Short made batting look easy when he cruised to victory with a four in the ground, finishing unbeaten on 81 off 88 balls. In the 28-year-old’s last one-day match, he scored 134 against Queensland in Mackay.

Short will soon join the Australian team for the five-match T20 series against India after the completion of the ODI World Cup.

Victoria leapfrogged defending champions Western Australia into first place, while Tasmania remains in fourth place with a 2-3 record.

Victoria will be back in action on Thursday when they host Queensland in an important Sheffield Shield match at the MCG.

Tasmania will stay home to host resurgent New South Wales next Saturday in a four-day match.