Victoria leads South Australia 114 (O’Neill 4-28) by 340 runs with a score of 169 and an 8 for 285 (Short 119, Johnson 5-72).
During the halfway mark of their encounter against South Australia in Melbourne, Matt Short’s first Sheffield Shield century gave Victoria a commanding lead.
Short turned a low-scoring game around by mastering the tough Junction Oval pitch to score 119 runs, more than any other batter in the competition by almost three times.
The century follows a strong run for Short, who more than seven years after making his senior debut, this week became the first player to crack the 50-over century barrier.
With an enormous 340-run lead after the first day, Victoria finished at 8 for 285—a feat that looked inconceivable only the day before.
Earlier in the day, South Australia’s lower order submitted. They were dismissed for 114 runs after starting the game at 5 for 75, which resulted in a first-inning deficit of 55 runs.
With his 70 off 69 balls on day one more than double the next best for either side in the first innings, Short played a significant part in creating that advantage.
He scored 119 runs off 135 balls in the second innings, smashing 15 boundaries and a six, and it took some deft footwork to get him out. Jordan Buckingham took a juggling catch on the boundary rope.
With his five-wicket haul thanks to Short’s dismissal, pacer Spencer Johnson, making his debut, finished with stats of 5 for 72.
Amazingly, Short had scored almost 36% of the runs in the game over the course of the three innings at the time of his expulsion.
The second half of the day’s batting sessions proved considerably more straightforward, with an 82-run stand between Short and Will Sutherland for the seventh wicket being probably the game’s largest (43).
Glenn Maxwell, a returning short-form star, received bad news when he was clean bowled on the second delivery after playing a wide drive off Wes Agar.
Maxwell made just 5 in the first innings, albeit his departure came via a disputed lbw ruling.
Maxwell earlier left the field during SA’s innings in his first game back from a broken leg after being injured by a ball while fielding at slip.
