Bulls seize pole position in Shield final push – cricket.com.au

Match Report:
Queensland have made the most of favourable batting conditions with their lower order holding South Australia at bay
Western Australia or New South Wales need to pull off victories, with each facing hefty run chases on Tuesday’s on final day of the regular season, to stop Queensland from clinching a spot in the Sheffield Shield decider.
Jimmy Peirson and Jack Wildermuth’s day-three centuries against South Australia (who have already sewn up Sheffield Shield final hosting rights) have put the Bulls in pole position to set-up a Karen Rolton Oval rematch in next week’s five-day contest.
WA and the Blues remain in the hunt going into the final days of their respective matches at the WACA Ground and Bellerive Oval, but both will need to post their highest fourth-innings totals of the Shield season to snare outright points.
An outright win for either would see them jump Queensland into second spot. If both win, NSW will go through. Victoria cannot qualify unless the Bulls and Blues lose, while Tasmania have been eliminated from contention.
^{Current round’s bonus points included in above table. Teams will gain six points for a victory, one point for a draw, no points for a loss.}
While Queensland’s own path to victory has all but been snuffed out by a flat pitch and SA not needing to push for a result, their lower-order rearguard might have won them enough bonus points to secure second spot on the standings.
Taking only four SA wickets before the 100-over cut-off (and only seven before the home side declared on 7-614) meant Marnus Labuschagne’s men needed to pass 330 within the first 100 overs of their reply to hedge against the possibility of a Victoria win in Perth.
That looked a distant prospect for the Bulls when they slumped to 5-86 on day two. But along with Michael Neser (68), Peirson (128 in six hours’ batting) and Wildermuth (104 from only 90 balls) ensured the visitors got there comfortably on day three before being bowled out for 370.
Queensland went to lunch today 6-216 and requiring a further 114 from 25 overs after the break to bank the required bonus points.
But after Wildermuth reached 50 with consecutive sixes off SA quick Henry Thornton, and he and Peirson regularly found boundaries thereafter the task became comparatively straightforward.
Queensland skipper Marnus Labuschagne sat nervously with teammates in front of the Bulls’ dressing room at Rolton Oval, cheering every boundary and then jumping to his feet when Wildermuth drove Jordan Buckingham to the cover boundary to reach 330.
“The wicket’s good, but we lost a few early so there’s a bit of pressure on us there to reset our target to what we need to do,” Peirson said at day’s end in Adelaide.
“We knew what the bonus points structure looked like after the games around Australia, we knew with the Victoria-WA game for us to stay in front if Victoria won the game we needed those bonus points from that batting innings.
“We knew how the day was set up, to look to me to bat through and the we knew we had power with Nes (Neser) and Jack Wildermuth behind us to come in and it just dovetailed nicely.
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“I’ve never played in a season where three wins could potentially get you into a Shield final, it’s crazy to think that.
“Today we needed to get those bonus points which we did, and we’ll see how things pan out with the draw tomorrow.”
Presuming Queensland bank an extra point for the draw against SA, their first-innings batting effort was enough to take their points total to 39.50, clear of the maximum amount the Vics can reach after failing to register any batting bonus points against WA.
If the Bulls go through, they will be the first team to qualify for a Shield final with only three victories in a completed season since 2003-04.
South Australia, three wins clear of second place heading into the last round of the season, had no incentive to enforce the follow-on on Monday despite leading by 244 on the first innings and can now essentially use day four as centre-wicket batting practice.
Given his side’s push to play the Shield final at Adelaide Oval was nixed by the AFL, SA coach Ryan Harris will be eager for his batters to get used to scoring big runs at Karen Rolton Oval where they will return next week.
Queensland also showed they had one eye on next week’s decider with strike bowler Michael Neser not taking the field for SA’s second innings this afternoon having shouldered a heavy recent workload, including 17 overs in extreme heat last Saturday.
“It’s been a big season for Nes and we’ve asked a lot of him batting at seven as well, so it’s just an opportunity for him to not bowl if he doesn’t have to and hopefully rest him up and get him going for a final in a week’s time,” Peirson said today.
As Victoria stumbled in their second innings against WA this afternoon losing 3-1 in another middle-order collapse, the Bulls struck back with the wickets of SA openers Henry Hunt (21) and Conor McInerney (12) from successive deliveries.
However, SA skipper Nathan McSweeney (8no) and Jason Sangha (24no) negotiated the final 11 overs to stumps to finish 2-66 and an impregnable 310 runs in front heading into the last day of the regular season.
M: Matches played
W: Wins
L: Losses
D: Drawn
N/R: No results
Ded.: Deductions
Bat: Batting Bonus
Bowl: Bowling Bonus
PTS: Total points

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