'Baby' Blues beat Bulls

The 'Baby' Blues have struck again, this time cruising past the Queensland Bulls by 17 runs at the Gabba - the final scoreline flattering the hosts who were never really in the contest during the second innings.

On a pitch on which 160 looked like it would be a par score, the New South Wales Blues won the toss and had no hesitation in batting first. The visitors, however, battled to find the boundary and found themselves reeling at 5 for 72 in the 13th over, having broken the record for the lowest number of runs scored in the Powerplay during the season - 1 for 30.

Moises Henriques (34 off 27 balls) and Man-of-the-Match Ben Rohrer (47 off 25) then joined forces for a handy 44-run partnership to give the Blues some hope of a respectable total.

It was Rohrer - the only batsman to look comfortable on an, at times, two-paced pitch - who did the most damage, helping his side take 38 off the final three overs to reach 7 for 140.

The Bulls' big hope in the run chase - the dynamic Chris Simpson - started terribly, connecting with the ball just once (a top-edged six over third man) in the first ten deliveries he faced, including seven missed pull shots.

Captain Stuart Clark (1 for 13) and teenager Patrick Cummins (3 for 24) were superb, bowling the visitors into a commanding position before another teenager, Sean Abbott (3 for 15), finished the hosts off with some good stump to stump bowling to tear through the middle order.

Cummins, 17, looks to be a future Australia paceman and was unlucky not to have more economical figures; most of the runs off his bowling coming from edges through the slips.

In a sign of just how poorly the Bulls did with the bat, it was No. 10 Nathan Rimmington who top scored for them, blasting his way to 24 off just 11 balls in the final overs.

Queensland will play their second game in two days when they host Western Australia in what has now become a knockout match, before they travel south to face New South Wales again on Saturday.