Tasmania 6 for 295 (Wade 86, Silk 82) beat Victoria 156 (Siddle 4-22) by 139 runs
Two brilliant 80s from Matthew Wade and Jordan Silk and a vintage four-wicket haul from Peter Siddle helped Tasmania vault into March Cup final calculations after thumping Victoria by 139 runs at Bellerive Oval.
Wade produced a player of the match performance thumping 86 from 55 balls and shared in a century stand with Silk who stroked a composed 82 as the hosts posted 6 for 295 from their 50 overs. Siddle then ripped through Victoria's talented top order taking 4 for 22, including two maidens, as the visitors crumbled to be all out for 156 in response.
Wade, Australia's T20I wicketkeeper, batted at No. 5 as Tasmania opted to open with stand-in skipper Jake Doran and Caleb Jewell. They slumped to 2 for 17 after being sent into bat, but Silk and Mac Wright steadied with a century stand before Wright fell for 49.
Wade then unleashed on Victoria's inexperienced attack cracking 11 fours and three sixes in a vicious assault. He looked set for a century but fell in the 43rd over to an excellent catch at long on with Brody Couch holding onto a flat, flushed lofted on-drive just inside the rope. Silk also missed out on a deserved ton after anchoring the middle order, holing out to deep midwicket for 86 with 21 deliveries left in the innings.
Victoria's chase never got going on with Siddle knocking over the top three. Australia's white-ball opener and captain Aaron Finch was demoted to No. 3 behind Jake Fraser-McGurk and Mackenzie Harvey. He fell for a first-ball duck as Siddle was on a hat-trick in the fifth over. Siddle had both Harvey and Finch caught behind, Harvey off the inside edge by one that nipped back off the seam and Finch off the outside edge to a superb leg cutter.
Glenn Maxwell was the only Victoria batter to get established reaching 44 off 66 but he flicked Siddle straight to fine leg to hand the veteran his fourth scalp. Victoria's tail folded with Tom Andrews bagging three wickets.
Tasmania now go top of the Marsh Cup table but they need either Victoria to beat Western Australia or South Australia to defeat New South Wales in the final two games on Tuesday to qualify for Friday's final at the Junction Oval in Melbourne.
