A stylish unbeaten 47 from dumped Test wicketkeeper Brad Haddin has pushed NSW to within touching distance of first innings points on 4-179 at tea on day two of their Sheffield Shield clash with Queensland.
Chasing the Bulls’ total of 243, Haddin and Steve Smith (31 not out) have put on an unbroken stand of 70 to give NSW the upper hand on Wednesday, requiring just 65 more runs for first innings points.
Haddin, left out of the South Africa three-Test series in favour of 24-year-old Matt Wade, is in fine touch, having already scored two Shield centuries this summer.
He’s struck six boundaries against the Bulls.
Earlier, Peter Nevill (55) laid the platform for the Blues, hitting eight fours while putting on 74 with opener David Dawson (32) before he was brought undone by Luke Feldman (2-34).
After creaming the stocky paceman through the covers for a boundary, Nevill attempted to repeat the stroke and chopped onto his stumps.
Queensland’s bowlers are toiling hard on a batsman-friendly wicket, but are struggling to extract the same pace and movement which propelled former Test paceman Doug Bollinger to 4-57 earlier in the day.
Bollinger replicated his fierce spell on day one, when he claimed two scalps with the first three balls of the match, by rolling the Bulls lower order, though Ben Cutting (37) provided some fireworks for the visitors.