Hodge heroics lift Victoria to victory

Victoria 8 for 239 (Hodge 140*) beat Queensland 8 for 238 (Philipson 53*, Lynn 50, Nannes 4-44) by 2 wickets
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details

Brad Hodge rushed to his second hundred in consecutive matches as he guided a difficult Victorian chase to beat Queensland on a cold night at the Gabba. Chasing the Bulls' 8 for 238, Hodge opened and stayed until the end as he carried his men to victory with five balls and two wickets to spare.

Hodge, who blasted 134 against Western Australia last week, launched two late sixes and 28 from his last eight balls, taking him to a career-best 140 off 121 deliveries. The Bushrangers were 18 behind at the 20-over break and Hodge, who resumed on 54, took a while to warm-up as he dealt with a series of setbacks.

Hodge collected four boundaries from a Chris Swan over to lift the pace and stayed cool to cover for the exits of Andrew McDonald (26) and Matthew Wade (21), who was caught behind slashing to the debutant Cameron Gannon. Ryan Carters (0) gave Swan his third but Michael Hill and Mark Cleary made useful contributions to support Hodge.

Craig Philipson provided an important late burst for Queensland with an unbeaten 53 off 54 after the Bulls had struggled for momentum during their second innings. Lee Carseldine and Chris Lynn were cruising along as the hosts were 2 for 114 after 20 overs, but they found it hard to regain their rhythm on their return.

Carseldine fell for 38 and Lynn pushed on to 50 before being bowled by Cleary. Dirk Nannes did the most damage for the visitors with 4 for 44 off 12 overs in his first domestic game of the season.