Another Hodge Century Leads Vics To An Easy Win
The Age
Thursday February 1, 2007
THE second century from Brad Hodge in the space of four days led Victoria to an easy victory over South Australia in the Ford Ranger Cup match last night at the MCG, and further boosted his claims to a place in the World Cup squad.
Hodge cracked a magnificent 115 in 100 balls, his century coming off only 90 balls. He scored the winning runs, clipping Jason Gillespie for four off his hip with 44 balls to spare. It was a fitting end to yet another brilliant innings for Hodge, who against the Redbacks last weekend in the Pura Cup hit 124 not out and 87 to lead the Vics home.Hodge's innings, in front of Australian selector Jamie Cox, could go a long way to helping him board the plane to the West Indies, the squad being selected on February 8.After the match, Hodge said he felt he was in career-best form and the Victorian side had the self-belief that it could win from any position."I feel like I'm playing as good as I could ever play and what more can you say? I'm hitting the ball well, working hard off the field and it's paying dividends on the field," he said."I'm just trying to play as good cricket as I can possibly play. I know the Australian cricket side's an extremely hard team to get into and I have just got to keep playing the way I am and find a spot hopefully. I feel like I'm doing everything possible to make that happen."(It was) good to put in a captain's performance and obviously a team result to get us somewhere up in that final."The win takes Victoria to equal first on the Ford Ranger Cup table with Queensland and all but assures the side a finals berth. The only thing that could prevent the Bushrangers making the final is if Western Australia or Tasmania - sitting equal third and fourth - win both their final two matches with a bonus point.With last night's result seemingly in the bag midway through Victoria's run chase, the issue on the minds of the batsmen was sneaking a bonus point from the win. Needing to overtake South Australia's 8-238 by the 40th over to secure the point, Hodge and David Hussey were together in the centre from the 26th over and taking apart the Redbacks' almost part-time attack, which was without Shaun Tait due to his call-up to the national squad. Hussey signalled his intentions early by smashing the second ball he faced from spinner Nathan Adcock back over his head for six, while Hodge played shots to all parts of the ground.It was hard to pick what was Hodge's best shot of the night, whether a crunching off drive off paceman Ryan Harris, one of the many delicate late cuts or the towering six into the 20th row of the Great Southern Stand. However from the moment Hussey lost his wicket in the 33rd over with the score at 3-173, the Bushrangers decided to settle for the four points and Hodge's century became the most compelling point of interest.Aiden Blizzard replaced Hussey and the Victorians did not skip a beat. Blizzard is a genuine talent and he played an assured anchor to Hodge with 20 runs as the pair put on 69 runs in 61 balls to be there at the end.Michael Klinger and Jonathan Moss got the Victorian innings rolling with a solid first wicket stand of 60. South Australia won the toss and, despite a bright start of 52 without loss off the first eight overs, could not build a defendable total. Matthew Elliott (63), Ben Cameron (42) and Mark Cosgrove (33) all made starts but failed to go on, with some fine bowling and fielding from the Bushrangers.
© 2007 The Age