White Injury A Nasty Twist For Vics

The Age

Saturday November 24, 2007

By Lyall Johnson, Brisbane

VICTORIA last night was in all sorts of bother in its Ford Ranger Cup match against Queensland, with skipper Cameron White hobbling off the ground retired hurt with a leg injury.

With the score on 5-105, White was involved in a mid-pitch collision with bowler Lee Carseldine and appeared to aggravate an old ankle injury as he landed from a forced pirouette.

After testing his weight on the injured left leg, White opted to hobble to dressing room, barely able to walk.

Ironically, the man who brought him undone, Carseldine, was playing his first game back from three years off due to injuries to his back that involved having a titanium disk inserted in one of his spine.

The injury to White brought the man the Bushrangers call the "Duke", John Wayne Hastings, to the wicket to see if he could continue his fine debut form, having taken three wickets to power his adopted side into a strong position.

After 34 overs, Hastings (five) and keeper Adam Crosthwaite (23) were the not out batsmen with the total on 5-127 - still a long way behind Queensland's total of 243 to win.

Victoria was looking to push the run-rate along early but Aiden Blizzard went in the third over for only five, and Michael Klinger, although he added 17, seemed to struggle to get his footwork right and had tremendous difficulty finding the middle of the bat, with the score on only 46.

The in-form Brad Hodge and David Hussey found themselves at the crease and, with a Queensland attack compromised by injury, were intent on keeping the board ticking over.

But Hussey, a man who prides himself on his speed between wickets, undid much good work by throwing away his own, taking on the arm of Nathan Reardon in the deep.

Hodge was showing plenty of aggression, at one stage dancing down the pitch to paceman Grant Sullivan to send the ball over cover at warp speed.

But no sooner had he brought up his 22nd limited-overs half-century than he holed out in the deep, his pull shot picking out Shane Watson perfectly.

At the half-time break, White said he was pleased to restrict the Bulls to fewer than 250, considering coach Greg Shipperd had felt that a score of 270 on that wicket would have been difficult to chase.

"It looked like it could have probably got away from us a bit there at the start and through the middle but I think we did a reasonably good job there, towards the end especially," he said.

© 2007 The Age

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