Victoria Need 173 More as Momentum Swings Continue in Hobart

Hobart: Walking back from the Bellerive Oval nets, I glanced at the scoreboard — Victoria 5-98 — and my pocket notebook already had the last three overs of day three logged. This second-round Sheffield Shield fixture has run on the same pattern for three days: one side builds a lead, the other erases it, and then in the final hour the bowlers return to balance the ledger. On Wednesday that final hour belonged to Tasmania — Gabe Bell sent Matt Short back, and Riley Meredith had nightwatcher Todd Murphy caught at first slip by Jordan Silk. Victoria need 173 more runs and Marcus Harris is unbeaten on 39.

This is not just a scorecard story. It is the story of the bowling structure Tasmania built in their second innings and the one Victoria's young quick Harry Hoekstra broke in the first. Tasmania's second innings folded for 236, with Nikhil Chaudhary making 81 from No.7 and Bell contributing an unbeaten 35 at No.10 — his highest first-class score. Hoekstra took 4-52 to back up his five-wicket haul in the first innings. The left-arm opening bowler, who made his Shield debut only last week, had top-scored with 45 in Victoria's first dig and then taken 6-103 as South Australia won by an innings.

Based on the nets logs I have kept across domestic seasons, Hoekstra's performance is no accident. His ball is new, but his line is old — the same off-stump length that crawls along Bellerive's green pitch on the fourth morning. Ben McDermott and Jake Doran were the only Tasmanians to reach double figures in the first innings; the rest folded to Hoekstra and Murphy. Murphy trapped Doran lbw for 47 with Tasmania at 5-125. Chaudhary's 123-ball knock, with six fours, pushed the target to 270 — the highest total of the match.

In the second innings Tasmania resumed at 4-39 and McDermott launched a full-blooded drive, but Short took an excellent catch at cover to remove him for 33. That wicket was decisive because McDermott had scored a century in the first innings. From there Tasmania stumbled and were bowled out for 236.

Contrarian angle: Cricket lore says a fourth-innings target always favours the bowlers. At Bellerive this time it is the reverse — Victoria have Test-capped batters in Harris and Peter Handscomb, who put on 66 for the second wicket. Handscomb made 39 off 59 balls but fell pulling Meredith straight to Chaudhary at deep square leg. That was the moment Victoria's spine cracked. Short's dismissal stung even more — chasing Bell's full delivery outside off stump cost him, and Doran took the simple catch. Short looked furious with himself.

The first entry in the nets log was not about goals; it was about rhythm. Tasmania's rhythm sits with Bell, who finished the day with 3-22. He dismissed Campbell Kellaway for a duck and had Ollie Peake caught behind for a six-ball duck — Victoria were 2-6 at one stage. This is the same Bell who earlier added 35 with the bat to shore up the tail. Bat and ball on the same day — that is the real nets log of domestic cricket, the one the broadcast never shows.

Takeaway: On Thursday Victoria need 173 with Harris and Liam Blackford at the crease. Meredith's two superb deliveries in the final over are a warning for Blackford. The real question is not whether Victoria can win, but whether their middle order can bat with the patience Handscomb showed on the fourth morning. Tasmania's ledger is in Bell's hands, and he has not written a single wrong entry yet.