Queensland’s underdogs are poised for a Sheffield Shield upset of star-studded NSW as the Blues’ big guns again failed to fire on Saturday at Allan Border Field.
On a fluctuating day two when Australian allrounder Shane Watson was a worrying casualty, NSW finished in a deep hole at 5-121 – holding an overall lead of just 49.
With Watson unlikely to bat on Sunday due to a calf injury, the Blues’ tail needs to wag hard and long to set up a challenging target for the home side.
Watson left the ground for scans after pulling up sore in his troublesome left calf following his only over of the day and never took his place in the batting order.
There wasn’t too much joy for his Test teammates David Warner, Michael Clarke and Mitchell Starc either as NSW batted their way back into the game before losing ground again with a late collapse.
Warner cruised to 39 off 44 balls as the Blues quickly erased Queensland’s 72-run first-innings lead before the explosive opener hit a sharp return catch to Luke Feldman that sparked a 5-45 slump.
Clarke, the target of sustained sledging from beyond the picket fence, also looked in good touch before he was caught behind off youngster Cameron Gannon (2-35) just before stumps for 28.
Left-armer Starc’s only joy in the match was two wickets in his only over with the second new ball to clean up the Bulls tail as the home side lost 4-14 to be dismissed for 256 in their first innings.
Trent Copeland was the pick of the Blues’ bowlers with 2-42 from 21.5 overs while spinner Steve O’Keefe took 2-31.
In reply to the Blues’ first-day total of 184, Joe Burns top scored for Queensland with 64 in a pivotal 110-run stand with Usman Khawaja (54) which gave them the upper hand while skipper Chris Hartley also notched a half-century.
Hartley (54) and Nathan Reardon (42) combined for an 89-run partnership which took the Bulls to first-innings points after they were teetering at 5-132 following the dual losses of Burns and Khawaja.