Elliott stars in Victorian batting fiesta

Victoria 1 for 322 (Elliott 140*, Arnberger 90, Hodge 85*) v Queensland
Scorecard

Matthew Elliott continued his awesome form with an innings that drove Queensland to despair, and guided Victoria to 1 for 322 at the end of the first day of the Pura Cup final at the MCG.

His unbeaten innings of 140 led an impressive batting effort by Victoria, whose only failure came when Jason Arnberger was dismissed for 90. With Elliott at the close was Brad Hodge, unbeaten on 85. Elliott broke Graham Yallop's 21-year-old run record of 1,254 runs in a season, and equalled Matthew Hayden's record of seven centuries.

Queensland won the toss and put Victoria in. But the pitch offered little life, sapping it out of the bowlers instead. Even then, the openers began steadily, as Andy Bichel and Joseph Dawes kept a rein on the scoring. As the new ball lost its hardness, runs came more easily, and Elliott and Arnberger took toll of the bowling. Bichel in particular came in for punishment, 92 runs coming off his 19 overs.

Elliott got to his fifty earlier, but Arnberger shed his defensive skin and raced to 90 with 11 fours and two sixes. But he was robbed of deserved hundred when Nathan Hauritz trapped him leg-before on the back foot (1 for 165).

Elliott then survived a difficult chance, and kept chugging along with Hodge for company. Hodge played freely and accelerated the pace of the innings, while Elliott was happy to dig in for the long haul. The flat pitch aided his strokeplay, and he split the field with a series of sumptuous drives.

By the end of the day Victoria, needing only a draw to win the Pura Cup, looked on course to do that and so deny Stuart Law an fairytale ending to his career in Australia.