Sam Elliott, the son of former Australia batter Matthew Elliott, took seven wickets in the opening round of the One Day Cup today (September 23), falling just short of the overall record for the competition.
The 24-year-old fast bowler claimed figures of 7-12 in Victoria's first match of the season against Tasmania in Australia's domestic List A competition. He led the Victoria bowling attack to bowl Tasmania out for 126 at the Junction Oval, having had them 92-9 at one point. It was only Elliott's 11th game in the format, but his figures surpassed Jon Holland's 6-29 in 2012 as the best by a Victoria bowler in the competition.
He bowled his first over after the powerplay, after which Tasmania were already 54-2, and dismissed Jordan Silk with his first ball. Silk had chased a full delivery outside off stump and edged behind. He went on to strike again in the same over, dismissing Jake Weatherald in similar fashion, before striking again in each of his next two overs. After his fourth over was a maiden, he then dismissed Beau Webster with the final ball of his fifth to claim his first five-for in the format. The wicket of Tom Rogers in his next over gave him six, before Bradley Hope became his seventh victim in his seventh over of the game.
7-12 are the second-best figures ever in the competition, slotting into the record charts above Carl Rackemann's 7-34 in 1989, but just below Shaun Tait's 8-43 against Tasmania in 2004.
Victoria register comfortable win over Tasmania
Victoria went on to win the match by four wickets with 139 balls remaining, after a wobble in the middle order threatened what should've been an easy win. After opener Josh Brown and then Marcus Harris were dismissed within the first three overs of the chase, Victoria then slipped to 72-6 when Peter Hanscomb, Thomas Rogers and Jonathan Merlo were all dismissed for single figures.
Elliott, who came in at No.8, put on a stabilising partnership with Will Sutherland, however, and hit the winning runs with a four in the 27th over.
Who is Sam Elliot?
Elliott is the son of former Australia opener Matthew Elliott, who was the leading run scorer in the 1997 Ashes series. He scored two centuries during that series, including 199 in the fourth Test match at Headingley, and finished the series with 556 runs. He was named one of the Wisden Cricketers of the Year for 1998, but struggled to hold down a regular place in the Australia Test XI from then on.
Elliott was recalled to the national side in 2004 after a successful season in domestic cricket, but played just one match as a stand-in for Ricky Ponting, in which he scored 0 and 1.
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