A captain’s knock is required from James Hopes after Queensland’s batsmen crumbled against Tasmania in the Sheffield Shield final at the Gabba.
At tea on day two, the Bulls are 5-115 – trailing the Tigers by 126 runs – after at one stage losing 3-7.
Queensland will be looking to skipper Hopes (44 not out) and fellow veteran Chris Hartley (16) to keep alive the dream of Shield title No.7 after they put on an unbroken 60-run stand.
Hopes’ run-a-ball knock featured eight fours – just one short of the total boundaries Tasmania managed in their first innings.
The Bulls’ prospects looked as gloomy as the overcast conditions after allrounders Luke Butterworth (2-23) and James Faulkner (2-33) lit up the Gabba.
After Butterworth reduced Queensland to 2-9 by lunch in reply to Tasmania’s 241, Faulkner ensured more pain was to come in the middle session.
He snared the prize wicket of in-form Joe Burns – caught behind for 28 – before knocking over Andrew Robinson (16).
The umpires came together before raising the finger to Robinson after his bunt to Ricky Ponting at short mid-on looked like a bump ball at first glance.
And it was 5-55 first ball of the next over by Sheffield Shield player of the year Jackson Bird (1-21) after that man Faulkner snaffled up a slips chance from Chris Lynn (zero).
The experienced pair of Hopes and Hartley then rode their luck.
Hopes narrowly avoided suffering Robinson’s fate when his lofted drive narrowly evaded Ponting while Hartley had a life on six when Nick Kruger made a mess of a slips chance.
Earlier, Alister McDermott (6-54) helped rout Tasmania after the visitors resumed at 6-208 on Saturday.
McDermott – aged just 20 – now has the equal ninth-best bowling figures in a Sheffield Shield final.
And he is just the sixth Queenslander to grab a six-wicket haul in a Shield decider.