Hodge’s domestic form making him strong contender for World Cup return

SYDNEY - Australian batsman Brad Hodge’s extraordinary domestic one-day form may pave the way for his return to the national ODI squad in time for next year’s World Cup.

Hodge has scored four centuries in his past six innings, and on Saturday, the 35-year-old scored his career-best 140 not out to drag the Victorian Bushrangers to a two-wicket win over Queensland.

He was dropped from the Australian one-day team in October 2007, after averaging 10 in his last six innings, but since then the right-hander has averaged 67.22 for the Bushrangers.

Victorian Bushrangers coach Greg Shipperd said that Hodge’s career-best innings in Brisbane was undoubtedly one of his finest.

“Each hundred in one-day cricket is a special event, but certainly he had to go it alone on Saturday night from a batting point of view - 140 out of 239 is just phenomenal,” the Sydney Morning Herald quoted Shipperd, as saying.

“And he steered it from ball two of the innings, with [Aaron] Finch unluckily out [on the first ball of innings]. Once he’s in that mood, special things come. It would be right up there, there’s no doubt about that,” he added.

Shipperd also believed that the new split-innings format was well suited to Hodge. “I think he’s got scoring options around the ground and knows when to pull the trigger. He understands the tempo and flow of the game, which changes all the time - particularly now with this new form with breaks involved,” Shipperd said. (ANI)