The first day of the Sheffield Shield saw a powerful New South Wales side get a comfortable start to their season, Western Australia get ahead of South Australia and Victoria dominate Tasmania.
First up, let’s have a look at the game which was played at the Gabba as the Queensland Bulls took on the New South Wales Blues, both sides complete with their complement of Test players.
Queensland won the toss and rather strangely decided to bowl first. The wicket looked a little green but nothing like the monsters we have seen when the pink ball was in use before and it wasn’t humid either so the modern Kookaburra was never going to swing much.
Bowling first looked like the right option for a short period of time though as Luke Feldman had both the Blues openers – David Warner and Ed Cowan – struggling to get bat on ball.
Feldman was the pick of the bowlers all day bowling with some decent pace, good line and length and doing just enough with the ball.
Both openers fell quickly, Cowan with a poor leave and Warner thrashing an edge to at a rising ball outside off. This is where it all fell apart for the Bulls. Queensland needed to snare more wickets to justify bowling first but Steve Smith and Kurtis Patterson got NSW through this tough period.
The afternoon became more and more depressing as the two batsmen then cashed in on their good starts with hundreds to put NSW in a leading position.
Once the night set in the ball was clearly doing a bit as the standard pink ball collapse came into effect. The Blues lost five quick wickets with Feldman ending up taking five himself for the innings.
The real shame for QLD was the quick fire runs put on by Ryan Carters and Mitchell Starc. That really took the game away just that bit too far.
A smart declaration followed to get the Bulls in against the Test bowlers late into the night with a new pink ball and it had early success with Charlie Hemphrey bowled by Josh Hazelwood.
Joe Burns and Usman Khawaja saw out the rest of what was a testing period, with Starc a little wayward at times.
NSW 7/327 declared
QLD 1/39
The other games saw Victoria build a big first innings with a hundred to Marcus Harris and a tough 78 to Peter Handscomb. The big story from this games was the dropping of Glenn Maxwell, though.
From the outside, it really looks like he has put a lot of people offside with his attempted last-minute move to New South Wales – that or his perceived attitude problem.
The Tasmanian bowlers struggled to make an impact throughout the day’s play, and as such find themselves a long way behind in the match.
Vic 4/351
Western Australia, after batting for most of the first day, decided to make the same declaration that the New South Wales side did on the other side of the country, and despite being on a batsman-friendly wicket, it paid dividends with a new pink ball swinging around under lights.
Shaun Marsh complied a patient 73 to top score, with Michael Klinger making 61 at the other end. Back from the disastrous tour of South Africa, Joe Mennie was the pick of the bowlers for the Redbacks on what was a tough day in the field.
Jason Behrendorff then picked up two quick wickets to put the men from the west right on top of the match, reducing South Australia’s top order to nothing.
WA 2/271 declared
SA 2/16
dan ced
Guest
Harris had a real Warner look to his century the other day, I hope he finds some consistency. Patterson has really stepped it up, made good of his potential in past years. Has jumped above Cowan and Carters in the NSW queue. The media has a huge boner for Bancroft who keeps disappointing, and Handscomb who does look good at times but not sure he would do well at international level. Neither interest me. I've been looking at people like Heazlett, Cartwright, Webster, that other guy from QLD (edit:Renshaw)
JohnB
Guest
It's not yet on Cricinfo or the Cricket Australia site so far as I can see, and I've seen 2 contradictory versions of it elsewhere, but it seems to still be bonus points in the first 100 overs
dan ced
Guest
I presume they held off naming him as he is coming back from that broken finger.. but they have named him in the tour match against Sth Africa!
JohnB
Guest
Sorry this partly repeats earlier post - which took a long time to come up for some reason.
JohnB
Guest
Rellum, no such thing as first innings points, and hasn't been for at least a season. Both sides (particularly NSW) foregoing possible batting bonus points is one of the weird things coming out of the game - and another distortion caused by playing day/night before the ball is adequate to the task!
dan ced
Guest
Patterson is definitely on a charge, I think Heazlett was too before his injury. I think Ferguson/Klinger are ahead though. Behrendorf looks very dangerous when bowling, I think Mennie is ahead of him atm (as he should be ahead of Bird/Siddle too) but I'm definitely a fan.
Rellum
Roar Guru
I though the points system was reverting back for some reason. That is my bad.
Rellum
Roar Guru
QLD declaration is a bad one for me. It allows NSW to build a big lead on day three nad put real pressure on QLD on the last day.
JohnB
Guest
No such thing as first innings points, and hasn't been for at least one season. One weird thing coming out of the Qld/NSW game is both teams declaring within (well within in NSW's case) 100 overs and foregoing batting bonus points. Another distortion introduced by playing day/night before the ball is up to the task. Good on you for writing on the Shield but the old adage regarding the danger of making judgements before both sides have batted rears its head again!
Rellum
Roar Guru
Vic doing something very different. They have a short second slip, wearing a helmet. Tassie are in all sorts at 3/46.
Rellum
Roar Guru
Cheers boys. Some late hitting got QLD some much needed first innings points. We declared straight away, leaving Labuschagne short of his hundred. Warner has now hit out for 23 of 15 in a partnership of 24.
Rellum
Roar Guru
I am glad they have. Shows some pride in the State they are representing. Assuming that is why he is 12th man.
BurgyGreen
Guest
I'm a little disappointed that Alex Ross didn't make the SA team. He has great match awareness for a young player.
Tim Holt
Roar Guru
Great seeing coverage on the Shield and you contributing to ROAR, Rellum- always enjoy your insightful views I was so happy to see my 'lovechild' Marcus harris get in the runs. The kid can really bat and hopefully a change of scenery will turn his potential into performance After the initial games it seems obvious the Aussie team for the first test is set in stone. The only query is whether they look to a quicker option of speculative nature rather than selecting the solid known of Bird Long term, they need to get Patterson in the test 11- he is easily Australia's best young test batting prospect
Ronan O'Connell
Expert
There's so much movement of players in State cricket that I'm surprised Vic would take Maxwell's attempted move so personally. Look at the current Victoria v Tassie Shield match - of the 22 players involved 9 of them are players who switched from other States.
Rellum
Roar Guru
Getting tight now for first innings points. Starc and particularly Hazelwood getting wickets regularly. Flores looks out of his depth at this level, I am still at a loss why he is in the team. We could have done with Reardon. Harts just been given out to what must have been the thinnest edge in history, hooking to Hazelwood. 4 wickets in hand, 30 runs needed for first innings points,
Brissie Boy
Guest
Good fightback from the Bulls. Great to see Khawaja and Burns batting well together for Queensland even if it is only for one game. Did a double-take when I saw Maxwell had been left out of the Bushrangers' side. Must be something going on off the field because he has consistently been one of Victoria's best Shield batsman the past few years. Would have him ahead of Finch, Wade and maybe even Handscomb and White in the pecking order. Solid wrap up, Rellum!
Dutski
Roar Guru
Thanks Rellum. Nice to get a summary of what's been happening. Hoping Starc gets a good hit out and is ready for the Saffas. We need him firing!
Brissie Boy
Guest
Good fightback from the Bulls. Great to see Khawaja and Burns batting together even if it is only for one game.
BurgyGreen
Guest
True, it was a very strange move. Surely someone would've told him that he couldn't do it? I guess he's as impulsive off the field as on it.