Friday 12 March 2010

A tantalising tilt at history just slipped by today as the XXXX GOLD Queensland Bulls sent a clear message south that they won’t be pushed around when they renew their vigorous rivalry with Victoria in the Weet-Bix Sheffield Shield Final at the MCG.

With the Bushrangers locking up their Final hosting rights with a crushing victory over Tasmania today, the Bulls almost conjured up one more miracle win at the Gabba.

As it was, the Retravision Warriors fell over the line to record Queensland’s first outright loss of the summer at the Gabba.

But in the process, the Bushrangers would have had the message reinforced that they underestimate the Bulls at their peril.

Needing just 106 to win, the Warriors were shell-shocked at 3-1 and then reeling at 6-44 when lunch arrived, possibly at just the worst possible time for a rampant Bulls bowling attack.

The Warriors got their composure back at the break and with Luke Ronchi (49no), the impressive Nathan Coulter-Nile (30) and man of the match Steve Magoffin (0no), reached the target at 7-109.

But the Bulls again were able to take something from the result, with rookie leg-spinner Cameron Boyce claiming his maiden first class scalp when he deceived Coulter-Nile with a drifting delivery that saw him slice his attempt drive to Nathan Reardon at cover.

Boyce was thrown the ball by skipper Chris Simpson with just 30 runs to get and displayed some nice touches in a confidence-boosting debut.

Former Queenslander Magoffin was the man-of-the-match after claiming 8-49 for the match, including 5-27 in the Bulls second innings total of 285.

Teenage batsman Chris Lynn made the most of an early life this morning to move onto 139 before he departed, sharing in a typically lively 52-run partnership with Chris Swan (30).

Swan backed up his batting with another fine display of swing bowling, claiming Warriors skipper Marcus North for a first-ball duck as the Warriors fell to 3-1 in the third over.

Swan could have Luke Pomersbach as the third leg of a hat-trick when he edged the first ball he faced, only to see it go agonisingly wide of fourth slip.

Swan finished with 3-35 and with Ben Cutting (3-32) enjoying the new ball as well, the Bulls gave themselves every chance of winning a match for the first time in history after being asked to follow on.

Cutting has now taken 43 wickets this season while Swan and fellow quick Luke Feldman have now taken 28 wickets each so far this summer.

Bulls captain Chris Simpson said the team was disappointed to miss out on the win after winning four of its five matches at the Gabba this season.

“One of the things we addressed last season was our performances at home and we have certainly improved that, just as we have improved in other areas of our game,’’ he said.

Simpson agreed that the team’s top order had yet to shine and said the Gabba was one of the most challenging pitches for batsmen to perform on.

“It just shows how good the likes of Stuart Law, Martin Love, Jimmy Maher and Matthew Hayden were to score the runs they did playing the majority of their cricket here. We’re still getting to grips with what it means to bat and do well here, but there’s been some very encouraging performances too which suggest we are making improvement.”

Rival captain Marcus North told the media after play that there was no reason why Queensland couldn’t come away from the Final as champions.

“They are a very good team. I told our players this morning before play that Queensland weren’t in the Final for nothing and that’s how they performed again to give themselves a chance of winning,’’ he said.