VICTORIA has kept its faint hopes for a berth in the WNCL Final alive after beating Queensland by six wickets yesterday. Queensland was first bowled out for 167, before the Vics then reached that targe with just over 12 overs to spare.

Queensland got off to a really slow start, which came back to bite the Sunshine State later. The Fire found themselves at 3/34 in the eighth over after Ella Hayward caused plenty of headaches early. Big partnerships was also hard to come by for the Fire, with the biggest partnership of their innings being in the 30s.

Hayward was a massive headache for the Fire, picking up 6/31 from 10 overs, which did include aa maiden. She also picked up a run out to bring the Queensland innings to a close. Meanwhile for Queensland Charli Knott was the pick of the batters, making 62.

In reply the Vics did not have the most confident of starts either, but a 53 run third wicket partnership and  65 run fourth wicket partnership got things back on track, and gave the Vics plenty of time to score the last few runs needed for victory.

Nicole Faltum was the backbone of the Victorian innings, scoring 10 fours in an innings of 82. Meanwhile for Queensland Nicola Hancock was involved with every wicket that fell. She took two wickets as a bowler, then ran out the other two wickets.

This result helps set up a fascinating final set of matches.

Victoria is remarkably still in the running for the Final, but a lot of things have to go its way. No matter what though, the Vics have to win both of their final matches against Tasmania in order to remain in contention, but just to add to the drama Tasmania is in the exact same situation as the Vics.

Meanwhile although yesterday’s match did not go to plan for Queensland, the Fire still came away with a reason to smile.

With the way the other results fell, Queensland has booked its place in the WNCL Final. It will also likely host that Final unless South Australia has bonus point level wins in both of its final matches of the season.