Hopes helps Bulls to solid victory

Queensland has continued their strong start to the 2006-07 Ford Ranger Cup competition, chalking up another bonus-point victory at the Gabba, this time against New South Wales.

All-rounder James Hopes was pivotal in the 65-run victory and the obvious choice for man of the match, belting his maiden one-day century (102 off 108 balls) and then finishing off the Blues’ tail to return figures of 3-40.

Hopes, who opened in Matthew Hayden’s absence, was the key run scorer in the Bulls’ total of 7-262, with the other highlight being some big-hitting at the death from debutant Michael Buchanan and Andy Bichel, which culminated in Stuart Clark’s last over going for 18 runs.

New South Wales got off to a horror start, struggling at 3-12, with Andy Bichel again the hero for the Bulls, picking up the key wickets of Phil Jaques (3) and Brad Haddin (1).

Dominic Thornely (47) and Aaron O’Brien (55) then attempted to rebuild the innings, grinding out an 86-run fourth-wicket partnership to put the Blues’ in a better position.

But when Chris Simpson dismissed Thornely (thanks to a suspect LBW decision), the run rate required was 7.5 and New South Wales was again on the ropes.

Daniel Christian (32) provided some hope in his aggressive batting, ending the dream debut of Buchanan by smashing consecutive sixes and two fours in what would be Buchanan’s last over.

Second debutant Grant Sullivan soon claimed Christian’s wicket though, leaving New South Wales at 5-147.

The game then dissolved into nothing but Queensland’s battle for the bonus point, as the run rate required continued to climb into double figures, wickets fell and the Blues’ batsmen were still scoring slowly.

A battle which Queensland won, with Hopes finishing off the game with three late wickets to dismiss the Blues for 197 and ensure that the Bulls made it two bonus points from two games.

After winning the toss and batting, Queensland got off to a terrible start, when Clark struck with the first ball of his comeback match, dismissing Jimmy Maher for 4.

Hopes was always living on the edge, with some silly running between the wickets and numerous shots giving the Blues fielders a chance, not to mention the number of balls which beat his bat early on.

But his innings was largely one of class, with eleven fours and two sixes.

New South Wales were disappointing in the field, with a number of opportunities gone begging, and a number of runs conceded through fielding errors and overthrows.

With injured trio Matthew Hayden, Ashley Noffke and Nathan Rimmington joining Michael Kasprowicz on the boundary, the Bulls’ depth was always going to be tested.

Debutants Buchanan, the son of Australia coach John Buchanan, and Sullivan performed well and Hopes covered Hayden’s absence.

The challenge for Queensland is to convert the form they have had in the one day domestic competition into the longer form of the game.

The two clubs will be squaring off again this Friday for their Pura Cup match.

Queensland was extremely disappointing with both the bat and ball when they played Tasmania in their first Pura Cup game for the year and will be looking to do better. It goes with out saying that New South Wales will be looking to improve on today’s performance.

Queensland innings
J MAHER c O'Brien b Clark 4 (6)
J HOPES b Bollinger 102 (108)
C PERREN c run out 21 (49)
C PHILIPSON run out 39 (46)
B NASH b Hauritz 19 (27)
C SIMPSON c Haddin b Bollinger 1 (6)
C HARTLEY c Thornely b Bird 2 (10)
M BUCHANAN not out 40 (38)
A BICHEL bot out 21 (13)

Extras (lb 4, nb 4, wd 5) 13
Total (for 7 wickets) 262

DNB: S Grant, G Sullivan

FOW: 1-7, 2-89, 3-154, 4-193, 5-195, 6-195, 7-210

Bowling: D Bollinger 10-0-48-2 (2nb, 1wd), S Clark 10-0-65-1 (2nb, 1wd), M Henriques 5-0-33-0, A Bird 5-1-26-1 (2wd), N Hauritz 10-0-42-1, A O'Brien 10-1-44-0 (1wd)

Innings time: - mins. Overs: 50

New South Wales innings
P JAQUES c Hartley b Bichel 3 (9)
C SIMMONS b Grant 5 (15)
A O'BRIEN c Sullivan b Simpson 55 (104)
B HADDIN c Hartley b Bichel 1 (2)
D THORNELY lbw b Simpson 47 (67)
M HENRIQUES b Buchanan 2 (9)
D CHRISTIAN c Nash b Simpson 32 (20)
N HAURITZ c Buchanan b Hopes 27 (41)
A BIRD c Buchanan b Hopes 5 (8)
S CLARK b Hopes 5 (11)
D BOLLINGER not out 4 (4)

Extras (lb 7, wd 4) 11
Total (for 10 wickets) 197

FOW: 1-7, 2-11, 3-12, 4-98, 5-105, 6-147, 7-171, 8-183, 9-190, 10-197

Bowling: S Brant 8-0-27-1 (1wd), A Bichel 9-2-21-2 (2wd), G Sullivan 8-0-38-1 (1wd), J Hopes 9.2-0-40-3, C Simpson 10-0-30-2, M Buchanan 4-0-34-1

Innings time: - mins. Overs: 48.2

Result: Queensland won by 65 runs
MOTM: J Hopes (QLD)
Umpires: S Davis and N McNamara
Venue: Gabba Ground
Attendance: n/a
Points: QLD 5, NSW 0

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