Queensland secured their spot in the Sheffield Shield final against South Australia following a draw in the last round of the season, with other outcomes also working in their favor.
On the afternoon of day four, South Australia’s captain Nathan McSweeney and acting Queensland leader Marnus Labuschagne exchanged handshakes as it became evident that victory was out of reach for both teams.
After declaring with a score of 7-614 in their initial innings, South Australia concluded their second attempt at bat at 5-252. Following this, they dismissed Queensland for 370 runs. However, they were unable to secure victory before running out of time for their upcoming home semi-final.
On Tuesday night, viewers from Queensland found themselves fixated on their TV screens, wishing for neither Western Australia nor New South Wales to triumph in their individual games, thus preventing them from overtaking their position heading into next week’s finale.
Tasmania’s 326-run victory against New South Wales and Victoria’s narrow 34-run triumph over Western Australia set the stage for Queensland to secure second place on the leaderboard and play at Karen Rolton Oval starting the following Wednesday.
"Overall, I am very pleased with the efforts of those lads," stated Labuschagne.
Given our current standing, having gone through five matches without any victories and managing to secure three wins along with a tie in the past five outings, this represents quite an impressive achievement.
When they resumed with scores of 2-66 on day four, South Australia went on to score an additional 186 runs, losing only three wickets in the process.
Jason Sangha scored his fifth first-class hundred with an undefeated 103, achieving three figures by guiding Mitch Swepson’s delivery over the long-off boundary.
It marked one of four sixes for the ex-Sydney Thunder skipper, who had previously slog-swept former Test spinner Swepson over long-on during the game.
On day four, Sangha's achievements stood out as his high-profile teammates faltered around him.
Following his capture of centurion Conor McInerney early on, part-time bowler Labuschagne (2-34) dismissed former Test player Nathan McSweeney (27), ultimately emerging as the unexpected top wicket-taker of the game.
Labuschagne recorded match figures of 4-107.
Wicketkeeper Alex Carey (56), who has been impressively consistent this season, reached his fifty before hitting another part-time bowler, Matt Renshaw, to Ben McDermott at cover.
Carey, having scored 104 in the initial innings, has maintained an average of 120.67 over his last four first-class appearances at bat.
