What we learnt from the Queensland vs New South Wales Sheffield Shield match

Fans were treated to four fascinating days of first-class cricket at the Gabba this week, as Queensland beat New South Wales and the weather in the Sheffield Shield.

The match contained plenty of bowling interest for Australian Test fans, as Queensland welcomed Ryan Harris back from knee surgery.

New South Wales’ Test spinners Nathan Lyon and Stephen O’Keefe – and to a lesser extent Queensland’s recent Australian T20 debutant leg spinner Cameron Boyce – also had the chance to test out the Gabba pitch in front of Australian selector Trevor Hohns ahead of the first Test against India next month.

On Day 1 Queensland put the Blues in the field in temperatures reaching 40 degrees, the Bulls finishing at 3-326 on their way to amassing a huge total of 9-472 as the New South Welshmen toiled in the sweltering Brisbane heat.

The Bulls’ first innings was dominated by a superb knock by Joe Burns, who scored his seventh first-class ton, making 183 off 255 balls. Ably supported, Queensland made the NSW trio of quicks Sean Abbott (3-113), Doug Bollinger (2-107) and Gurinder Sandhu (2-72) suffer. Lyon (0-91) was disappointing and rarely beat the bat in his 31 overs, while O’Keefe picked up 2-81.

Queensland immediately made inroads into the NSW line-up on day 2, with the top order failing and leaving the Blues teetering at 5-87.

However an excellent 118 from Nic Maddinson, assisted by an impressive 58 from Abbott in a restorative partnership of 126, rescued the Blues, who were eventually bowled out for 302.

Harris had a promising return to bowling, getting through 18.5 overs for 3-59. Although slightly wayward at times, he picked up the two late wickets of Sandhu and Bollinger in consecutive balls to finish on a hat trick.

It was after tea on Day 3 that the game sparked into life. Wickets tumbled as the Blues bowlers decimated Queensland’s line-up with an excellent display of fast bowling. The game plan for the batsmen was obviously to score quickly, but with Abbott (3-60) sending down a series of grenades from the Vulture Street End, that plan could have ended disastrously.

With Sandhu (2-54) loping in languorously with Abbott, and Bollinger (2-36) feeding off the momentum his teammates were generating, Queensland were in danger of being bowled out very cheaply.

It took Harris and Queensland’s Mr Dependable, James Hopes, to steady the ship, ending the day on 7-102.

When the pair resumed on the final morning, they built an excellent partnership of 103, with Harris and Hopes recording their half centuries off 47 and 54 balls in consecutive overs.

Lyon, desperate for some form leading into the home Test series, struggled again. He eventually found some rhythm, forcing Harris to edge to Ryan Carters at slip after worrying him with a couple of balls that spat and turned off the deck, but didn’t look convincing.

After Harris fell, Hopes raced to 69 before declaring on 8-200 after a fruitful hour’s play for the Bulls, setting NSW an unlikely target of 371 to win.

If he was a little rusty in the first innings, Ryan Harris was exemplary in the second innings. Having just missed out on his hat trick, with a pearler of a delivery just missing Carters’ outside edge, a venomous six-over spell followed, yielding figures of 3-17.

When Luke Feldman (1-25) accounted for Carters (11) lbw with his fifth ball (coupled with the best appeal and celebration I’ve seen for years), NSW were up against it trying to save the match on 4-36 at lunch.

After the break Harris (4-59) continued where he left off, removing Kurtis Patterson (45) with a ripper of a delivery that swung late and rearranged off stump.

Boyce (3-48) then spun his way into Test contention, bamboozling O’Keefe (13) and Lyon (0) in consecutive balls, as well as claiming Abbott (0) in a very dangerous spell of leg-spin bowling after lunch.

With storm clouds building over the Gabba and as Brisbane braced itself for an afternoon of storms, Queensland became increasingly desperate to wrap up the NSW tail and record their first outright win of the season.

As the lights took effect, Sandhu’s impressive resistance ended as he fell to Hopes on 27, ending a 52-run partnership with Peter Nevill (66*).

His dismissal saw Bollinger and a light meter come to the middle. Hopes (2-18) was mercifully allowed to continue and clean bowled Bollinger (1) shortly after. NSW all out for 182, securing a 188-run win for the Bulls.

In addition to a great match, culminating in an exciting final day’s play, this match has raised a few points of interest leading into the India Test match.

• The Gabba looks like it will provide a typically fast, bouncy, seam-friendly pitch, which will be of great comfort to the Australian quick bowlers. The thought of Mitchell Johnson, Mitchell Starc and maybe Josh Hazlewood on a pitch as bouncy as this should be giving the Indians cold sweats… Would Australia be better served by selecting an extra quick to utilise the bounce and pace against India?
• Cameron Boyce might have something to say about that. His performance on a wearing, Day 4 pitch was impressive, and those calls for his inclusion based on form are getting louder. In conjunction with that, from what I saw of Lyon and O’Keefe, I can’t see either of them troubling the Indian batsmen. Lyon certainly didn’t do enough to justify selection.
• Also on the bowling front, Harris got through his return encouragingly and made a strong case for his inclusion in the Test squad this summer, picking up seven wickets in the match on his return from surgery, and more importantly, getting through 32.5 overs unscathed.
• Should incumbent keeper Brad Haddin succumb to his shoulder injury, Chris Hartley put his hand up for selection with an excellent display of glove work, despite uncharacteristically failing with the bat. Particularly memorable, a superb, one-handed grab off Harris to dismiss Maddinson in the second innings.
• Queensland will next face Tasmania at Allan Border Field on the November 25, and the Gabba will next see use on December 4 in Australia’s first home Test of the summer vs India.

If that game ends up as good as this one, I can’t wait.