'Craziest 20 minutes of my career': Short

Marsh Cup match-winner Matt Short says he's never experienced anything like the final 20 minutes of Victoria's tense season opening win against NSW.

Short smashed what turned out to be the final ball of the match for six to put the Vics in front under the Duckworth-Lewis-Stern method before umpires Phil Gillespie and Claire Polosak determined it was too dark from play to continue, handing Victoria a seven-wicket victory.

Just four overs earlier and with light fading fast at the Junction Oval in Melbourne, the umpires had decided it was unsafe for the fast bowlers to continue with Victoria needing 91 runs to win from 72 balls under the DLS method.

At that stage, the hosts were 3-135 and five runs in front, and NSW skipper Kurtis Patterson opted to continue with spinners Nathan Lyon and Jason Sangha.

Short (17no) and captain Peter Handscomb (11no) narrowly kept the Vics ahead of the par score until the final ball of the 28th over.

With the game tied and Victoria level with the par score of 3-148, Patterson, who is understood to have thought NSW was in front, turned to seamer Liam Hatcher to end the game with the players shaping to leave the field due to bad light.

But following another discussion between the umpires and captains, they decided to play another over with Sangha given the ball, and with Victoria needing four runs off the final ball of the 29th over to edge ahead of the par score, Short dispatched it over long-off for six.

"It was probably the craziest 20 minutes of my career," said Short after the match.

"I went the sweep off the second last ball and missed it, so we needed four off the last ball and I was pretty lucky that Jason Sangha just chucked it in the slot there at the end and (I was) lucky enough to get it over the fence, so very happy.

"I was a little bit nervous but I always knew I had the ability to clear the fence.

"It got really dark when we lost 'Puc' (Will Pucovski) there at the end and I was walking out there and Liam Hatcher was coming on bowling 140kph and I'm like, 'this is so dark'.

"So it was a bit chaotic but happy to get the win in the end."

The victory marks a change of fortunes for Victoria's 50-over side who only recorded a solitary win last season and finished dead last in the 2021-22 Marsh Cup.

"All the coaches have put a big emphasis on one-day cricket this year, we obviously did well in the (Sheffield) Shield last year so a big focus this pre-season has been our white-ball and our balance through the innings and how to structure the innings a bit better this year," Short said.

"The boys got us off to a good start today with the bat and let us do our job at the end."

NSW opener Daniel Hughes, who compiled his seventh one-day century to help the visitors post 7-277, said it was "a bit of a shambles at the end".

"I'm not quite sure what to make of it to be honest," he said.

"It was it was fairly dark for the last hour there and obviously the agreement was that we were going to bowl spin.

"We didn't have any overs left because 'Gaz' (Lyon) had bowled out and Sangha was basically our only spin (bowler).

"It was a bit disappointing they hit the last one for six because I think after that it would have been the end because we couldn't bowl anyone else.

"So a bit disappointing for us, I thought Jason Sangha bowled a pretty good over there, just unfortunately the last one got hit for six.

"The plan was to get ahead and just bring the quicks back on – it didn't work out like that, but that's the way it goes.

"I was sitting down at fine-leg and third-man and I could tell that it was it was quite dark (as it was) hard to see the ball square the wicket.

"When that comes into play and you’ve got quicks bowling 130-140kph it is quite dangerous, so it's just disappointing we can't play at a ground with lights because we'd still be out there."