Victoria have managed to get their one-day cup campaign off to a winning start in a rain-impacted game at the Junction Oval on Saturday.
New South Wales had appeared to get the game off to a strong start under overcast skies, with the Blues managing to make 277 from their 50 overs.
Kurtis Patterson's shift to the top of the order brought with it immediate success as he made 30, while Daniel Hughes hit his seventh list A century, belting 117 from 128 balls.
That came in the fact of Scott Boland, who picked up 1 for 41 from his ten overs as he looks for opportunities to send a reminder to the Australian selectors ahead of the international Test summer getting underway at the end of November.
The chase got off to a fantastic start for the Bushrangers, with Will Pucovski slamming 64 from 75 balls at the top of the order.
In what was already a shortened chase, however, the umpires were set to abandon play with 12 overs to go thanks to bad light, only for the Blues to elect to bowl spin from both ends in an attempt to extend the game.
With Jason Sangha and Nathan Lyon squeezing out overs, the Victorians managed to stay ahead of the par score, but barely so, with Liam Hatcher then set to come into the attack in the 29th over.
That was snubbed by the umpires though, with Sangha then continuing. Victoria found themselves four runs behind by the final ball of the over, with Matt Short then launching a slog sweep six over the leg side to move them back ahead, before play was abandoned.
Short said it was the "craziest" 20 minutes of his cricketing career after the game.
"It was probably the craziest 20 minutes of my career," said Short after the match.
"I went the sweep off the second last ball and missed it, so we needed four off the last ball and I was pretty lucky that Jason Sangha just chucked it in the slot there at the end and (I was) lucky enough to get it over the fence, so very happy.
"I was a little bit nervous but I always knew I had the ability to clear the fence.
"It got really dark when we lost 'Puc' (Will Pucovski) there at the end and I was walking out there and Liam Hatcher was coming on bowling 140kph and I'm like, 'this is so dark'.
"So it was a bit chaotic but happy to get the win in the end."
Victoria will look to make it two from two when they take on Western Australia this Sunday.
The Blues, meanwhile, will travel to Perth for a clash next Saturday, before kicking off their Sheffield Shield campaign in the city from next Monday.
