Qld Start Near Perfect

One from McDermott gets
big on Ponting and he's
caught in the gully

Quensland may have done enough on the first day of the Sheffield Shield Final at the Gabba but its unlikely. They certainly took the honours from an opening day on which Tasmania won the toss and batted but struggled against a tacky pitch, heavy conditions and bowlers who persevered despite the constant frustration of skating close to the edge but rarely finding it.

Steve Cazzulino was the mainstay, beaten repeatedly outside the off stump by most of the bowlers but by Ryan Harris in particular. Harris seems to pass by the edge more than any other bowler in Australia first class cricket, perhaps underlining a need to develop a cutter which removes the middle man and hits the stumps. Cazzulino scored at less that a run an over in his 74 over stay after opening the innings. He shared productive stands with fellow opener Ed Cowan (67 in 26 overs) and first drop Alex Doolan (71 in 23 overs) but failed to find the boundary himself in the 198 balls he faced. Doolan was by far the most enterprising of the batsmen, playing an innings which was out of character with his fellow actors.

The flame haired Alastair McDermott managed what the other bowlers couldn't and once he had dismissed Doolan, he followed up by removing the Tassie skipper Ricky Ponting and Nick Kruger both for 1 and the Tasmanians suddenly had the wobbly boot on after such a solid start. Cazzulino was deeply stuck in the mire by this stage and just before last drinks, James Hopes removed James Faulkner and then McDermott came back to finally dismiss the obdurate Cazzulino. Luke Butterworth and Tom Triffitt, both capable of scores in the lower end of the order, will resume on the second day. Butterworth has been here before and rescued his side with late order centuries and in just such important matches as the Shield decider.

The four Qld quicks all bowled well, with McDermott having the figures to boast off, but the miserly contributions of the veterans Hopes and Steve McGoffin cannot be underestimated in the role they played to mount pressure on a batting line up that likes to score quickly.