Denton's six wickets seal Victoria success

Victoria 6 for 385 dec and 6 for 246 dec (Jewell 95, Bailey 4-117) beat South Australia 282 and 134 (Cosgrove 52*, Denton 6-31) by 215 runs
Scorecard

Gerard Denton forced a late collapse from the South Australia tail to help Victoria over the line in a nailbiting finish at Adelaide Oval. Denton set up the victory with early wickets then claimed three more with the second new ball to finish with a career-best 6 for 31 as the Redbacks came within nine balls of a draw.

Mark Cosgrove tried desperately hard to save his side, curbing his usually aggressive strokeplay in just under five hours at the crease for 52 not out. At one stage it looked like he and Jason Gillespie might block out a draw but when Jon Moss trapped Gillespie lbw for 18 it paved the way for Denton to clean up the rest.

Denton had Cullen Bailey caught at slip for 1, Paul Rofe caught behind for 0 and Shaun Tait caught at leg slip for 0 within the space of three overs. It had been Denton who got his side away to a terrific start by having the openers Shane Deitz (1) and Matthew Elliott (7) trapped lbw.

South Australia's target of 350 - it was set after Victoria added 45 to their overnight score - was irrelevant when Gillespie joined Cosgrove at 6 for 84 shortly before tea. They added 46 in an 83-minute partnership and seemed as though they could hold on as they battled against Shane Warne on a wearing wicket.

Cosgrove laboured for 297 minutes with a strike rate of only 19.47, compared to his pre-match mark of 64.92, but his defence was not enough to stop Victoria claiming the six points, catapulting them from last to second on the Pura Cup table.