Pace trio give Victoria last-gasp win at MCG

Will Sutherland and Scott Boland have combined for eight wickets to lead Victoria to a pulsating 113-run Marsh Sheffield Shield victory over Queensland at the MCG.

Chasing 272 for victory in 87 overs, Queensland were dismissed for 158 in 81.5 overs late on the final day, with Sutherland (4-32 off 19 overs) and Boland (4-49) proving crucial.

Victoria's second win of the season lifted them into fourth spot, with Queensland now last.

"It was a really good team performance, probably one of the best wins I've played in," Sutherland said.

"Unbelievable effort from the boys."

Victoria started the day at 6-156 in their second innings, and they added 3-34 in seven overs before declaring at 9-190.

Matt Renshaw was the first Queenslander to fall when he edged Boland to Sutherland at first slip.

Joe Burns should have been dismissed next ball, but Sutherland dropped a tough chance at slip.

The dropped catch proved costly - not for how many runs Burns scored, but by how much time he was able to chew up.

Burns scored nine off 55 balls before edging Boland behind, 22 overs after he was first dropped.

Sutherland made up for that earlier miss by snaring the scalps of Bryce Street (46 off 134 balls) and Jack Clayton (5) to reduce Queensland to 4-86.

He wasn't done yet.

The 24-year-old took a catch low and to his left at slip off the bowling of Boland to remove the dangerous Usman Khawaja (22 off 78 balls).

Sutherland, who scored a crucial 66 with the bat in Victoria's second innings, then trapped Jimmy Peirson lbw for 16.

He had his fourth wicket when James Bazley edged one behind - with Peter Handscomb's fumble at second slip snapped up by Will Pucovski.

At 8-146 with 12.4 overs remaining, it was all about survival for Queensland.

The Bulls still had two wickets in hand with 33 balls remaining in the match.

But their hopes of salvaging a draw were dashed in the blink of an eye when Fergus O'Neill removed Gurinder Sandhu (14 off 61 balls) and Mitchell Swepson (0) in consecutive balls, sparking wild celebrations.

"It's never nice to lose a game," Bulls captain Khawaja said.

"We were probably never in the contest to win the game. But credit to Victoria, they played the game really well.

"I thought they declared at really good times, they allowed the game to move forward. They deserved the win."

Sheffield Shield 2023-24 standings

Team	Matches played M	Wins W	Losses L	Drawn D	No results N/R	Deductions Ded.	Batting Bonus Bat	Bowling Bonus Bowl	Total points PTS
1 Western Australia Men WA	10	5	2	3	0	0	5.53	9.4	47.93
2 Tasmanian Tigers Men TAS	10	5	2	3	0	0	6.06	8.3	47.36
3 NSW Men NSW	10	4	3	3	0	0	6.31	9	42.31
4 Victoria Men VIC	10	4	4	2	0	0	4.74	8.2	38.94
5 South Australia Men SA	10	3	6	1	0	0	5.19	9.3	33.49
6 Queensland Bulls QLD	10	2	6	2	0	0	3.54	8.3	25.84

Legend

M: Matches played

W: Wins

L: Losses

D: Drawn

N/R: No results

Ded.: Deductions

Bat: Batting Bonus

Bowl: Bowling Bonus

PTS: Total points