Young Vic quick now hot Aussie property after latest 5-fa; forgotten star’s rescue act

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Dane Heverin from Fox SportsOctober 19th, 2026 7:40 pm

A young Victorian quick has quickly become one of the country’s hottest properties, while a batter who last played for Australia three years ago pulled off an epic recovery mission as the second round of the Sheffield Shield began on Monday.

Elsewhere, a batter who skippered Australia A on the recent tour of India was once again in the runs, while two exciting prospects from New South Wales got the Blues off to a promising start. MORE IN OUR SHIELD WRAP!

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Victorian left-arm quick Harry Hoekstra ripped through Tasmania’s top order before Ben McDermott’s brilliant century saved the hosts from embarrassment on day one in Hobart.

Tasmanian skipper Jordan Silk won the toss and elected to bat first, but an early reading of the scoreboard made it appear like he had sent his batters onto a mine field.

In just his second first-class match, Hoekstra had 5/18 from ten overs as Tasmania crumbled to 7/45 before lunch.

The 20-year-old opened his account with Silk gloving a short ball through to Victorian wicketkeeper Liam Blackford, who took a juggling catch – the first of his five catches for the innings.

Hoekstra then strangled Caleb Jewell down the leg side before finding the outside edges of Nivethan Radhakrishnan and Nikhil Chaudhary.

Mitchell Owen rounded out the five-wicket haul by picking out Fergus O’Neill, who took three wickets, at mid on.

Hoekstra, who took 6/103 on Shield debut against South Australia at the Junction Oval earlier this month and also took 5/42 in a One-Day Cup game against New South Wales last month, finished with 5/46 from 20 overs, including ten maidens, as his golden start to his professional career continued.

Tasmania rallied to eventually be dismissed for 241 in the last over of the day thanks to McDermott’s 128.

The 31-year-old’s fourth first-class century came after he retired hurt when only on six.

McDermott, who played the most recent of his 25 T20 internationals in 2023, returned to the crease after the fall of the seventh wicket and completed an impressive rescue mission with fellow gloveman Jake Doran (73) for support.

The pair combined for a 166-run partnership to dig their side out of a deep hole.

They were the only two Tasmanians to reach double digits with McDermott striking 13 fours and two sixes in his 197-ball innings.

His innings was eventually brought to an end when edged Victorian captain Will Sutherland to Matt Short at slip.

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Half-centuries from openers Ollie Davies and Sam Konstas got New South Wales off to a strong start after winning the toss and choosing to bat first against Western Australia at the WACA.

The visitors were 2/223 at tea with former Test batter Kurtis Patterson (67*) and Australian ODI all-rounder Jack Edwards (27*) at the crease.

Earlier in the day, Davies picked up where he left off with his incredible 253 against Tasmania in Sydney earlier this month.

The 26-year-old blasted seven boundaries in his knock of 52 off 58 balls, doing the bulk of the scoring as five-Test opener Konstas took his time early in his innings.

NSW were 1/69 when Davies fell to quick Jhye Richardson, who played in last summer’s Boxing Day Test.

Konstas then found a reliable ally in Patterson, hitting nine boundaries before his innings of 71 off 142 balls came to an end when he was caught behind off seamer Liam Haskett.

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Nathan McSweeney’s 54 and Jake Lehmann’s 62 led the way for South Australia as the hosts were bowled out for 203 by Queensland at the Adelaide Oval.

Queensland won the toss and elected to bowl first, and made it to stumps at 2/63 in reply with Hugo Burdon (39*) and Jack Clayton (7*) surviving until the end of the day.

Discarded Test opener Jake Weatherald got South Australia’s innings going with a quick fire 31 off 25, hitting six boundaries, before he was trapped lbw by international white-ball seamer Xavier Bartlett.

Lehmann, who is now playing technically as an overseas given he has used his British passport to play as a local in county cricket, got the South Australian innings moving, but McSweeney was the glue that held the innings together.

After scoring a century in the One-Day Cup game on Saturday and scoring a ton for Australia A in a one-day game against India A, the three-Test batter dug in for 150 deliveries, hitting only four boundaries, and he was the eighth wicket to fall.

Cameron Gannon picked up five wickets for Queensland, finishing with 5/42.

South Australian pair Nathan McAndrew and Brendan Doggett, who played two Tests during the Ashes last summer, picked up a wicket apiece late in the day.

Source: www.foxsports.com.au