Vics take points
Tue, 23 February 2010
Victoria has claimed first-innings points from its Sheffield Shield clash against Queensland at the Gabba, dominating the second day's play to bank the key points that seal the reigning champion's place in this season's decider. The visitors will no doubt be pushing for an outright victory - a result that will guarantee them hosting rights for the Shield final in March- but the early reward of two points will be enough to ensure they finish either first or second on the table. That is of course based on the presumption that the league leaders avoid any penalties, something worth nothing considering their sluggish over-rate in the current fixture. However on current form such a deduction would be immaterial. A miserly bowling performance was the key to the Bushrangers' success on Tuesday as they established a comfortable first-innings lead after quickly rolling the Bulls for a lowly total of 170 late on the second day. The Bulls finished the day on a high, with Luke Feldman dismissing Chris Rogers for a duck in the only over of play after the change of innings, but Victoria still boasts the whip hand at 1-5, an overall lead of 151 runs. Queensland was able to restrict the visitors to a score of 316 in the morning session due to the fine work of James Hopes (5-66), but batting was then made to look an even more incredibly difficult task on the uniquely slow pitch. Ryan Broad (five) was trapped LBW by Clint McKay before the lunch break and then Wade Townsend (25), Nick Kruger (16) and Lee Carseldine (23) all fell in the middle session after making starts. McKay, who finished with figures of 3-50 to be the pick of Victoria's bowlers alongside Damien Wright (3-41), dismissed Townsend with a niggling delivery on a near-perfect length that saw an edge fly to keeper Matthew Wade. Chris Hartley (47) was a shining light for the home side, but the wickets tumbled at a swift pace around him and the outlook was grim for the Bulls when skipper Chris Simpson (four) departed shortly after tea with the score a modest 7-131. A mistimed pull-shot eventually drew the curtain on both Hartley's defiant dig and the home side's underwhelming innings. Stand-in captain Andrew McDonald bowled tightly, while John Hastings' figures of 1-17 from 11 overs typified Victoria's ability to starve the batsmen of runs. The result means the Bushrangers will play off in all three finals of the domestic competition for the third consecutive season, having already taken the silverware from the Twenty20 Big Bash last month. Victoria is chasing successive Shield titles for the first time since 1980, and is bidding to be the first team to achieve such a feat since Queensland did so in 2002. Victoria 1st innings 316 Queensland 1st innings Kruger c Hill b McDonald 16 Broad lbw b McKay 5 Townsend c Wade b McKay 25 Carseldine lbw b Wright 23 Philipson c Wade b McKay 13 Hartley c Hastings b Wright 47 Hopes lbw b Pattinson 16 Simpson c Wade b Pattinson 4 Swan c Rogers b Hastings 2 Cutting b Wright 9 Feldman not out 4 Extras: 6 (5lb, 1w) Total: 170 (10 wickets: 67.4 overs) FOW: 1-8, 2-50, 3-65, 4-81, 5-97, 6-125, 7-131, 8-143, 9-161, 10-170 Bowling Wright 15.4 - 3 - 41 - 3 McKay 14 - 1 - 50 - 3 Pattinson 11 - 5 - 21 -2 McDonald 14 - 7- 29 - 1 Hastings 11 - 4 - 17 - 1 (1w) Finch 2 - 0 - 7 - 0 Victoria 2nd innings Jewell not out 4 Rogers b Feldman 0 Pattinson not out 0 Extras: 1 (1lb) Total: 5 (1 wicket: 1 over) FOW: 1-5, Bowling Feldman 1 - 0 - 4 - 1
Rob Forsaith at the Gabba, Sportal
