Toss Victoria, who chose to bat
Victoria 4 for 188 (Finch 58, Hussey 42*) beat Queensland 9 for 155 (Hopes 36, McKay 3-26) by 33 runs
Twenty20 debut MG Neser (Queensland)
Player of the match AJ Finch (Victoria)
Umpires GA Abood and RL Parry
TV umpire GC Joshua
Match referee D Levens
Big Bash defending champions Victoria have begun their 2011 campaign in perfect style with a clinical display to account for Queensland in game two at the MCG.
The home side rewarded the 29,429 locals who turned out with a dominant display on a sluggish drop-in wicket.
AARON Finch last night provided more compelling evidence that, when Australian selectors meet about the two looming Twenty20 internationals against England, his name should be high on their agenda.
The powerful right-hander reinforced his status as the form Australian Twenty20 player - albeit one yet to be part of an Australian team - to get Victoria's Big Bash campaign off to a blistering start, clubbing 58 off 38 balls against Queensland.
Finch opened the batting with Brad Hodge.
They needed only 64 balls to compile 98 runs and it was a sign of Finch's talent that not only was he able to match limited-overs specialist Hodge but outscore him, 58 to 35.
In last season's Big Bash he scored 189 runs at 47.25. The only player to have outscored him, by one run, was the most sought-after Twenty20 player in the world: West Indian Kieron Pollard.
2009 Champions League tournament, in the latest tournament in September Finch was in almost peerless form, blasting 197 runs in just four games at an average of 98.5. Those performances, combined with his hot start last night, will have furthered his claims for a contract in next week's IPL auction.
That Finch has averaged 46.57 in the Ryobi Cup one-day competition this season and not made Australia's preliminary 30-man squad for the World Cup was a surprise, but on the evidence of what he has consistently produced over the past year national representation should not be too far away.
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