Bulls fight back after battling to 208

Western Australia 3 for 33 trail Queensland 208 (Perren 58, Magoffin 3-23, P Davis 3-48) by 175 runs
Scorecard

Queensland finished the first day in Perth on a high after their batting line-up again struggled to post a decent total. On a day when 13 wickets fell, Western Australia finished at 3 for 33 following a pair of late strikes to Ryan Harris, which left Luke Pomersbach yet to score as the only not-out batsman.

Harris ended the day with the important removal of the opener Liam Davis (32), who had incredibly scored all the Warriors' runs apart from a solitary leg-bye. He also picked up the nightwatchman Steve Magoffin following the departure of the debutant Wes Robinson, who was bowled by Ashley Noffke for a duck.

It evened up a contest that had seemed to belong to Western Australia as they sent the Bulls in and knocked them over for 208. Magoffin made the perfect start and had Queensland at 2 for 3 having had both openers, Ryan Broad and Greg Moller, caught in the cordon.

A steadying partnership from Andrew Symonds and Clinton Perren followed, although Symonds had a couple of lives in his 43. Perren, who was making his first Sheffield Shield appearance for the summer, top scored with 58 before handing Robinson the ideal beginning to his first-class debut.

Robinson had Perren caught and two balls later added the Queensland captain Chris Simpson, who failed to score. The Warriors' other debutant, the fast bowler Paul Davis, also enjoyed his first four-day outing with 3 for 48 having been called in from outside the 12-man squad when Arron Crawford hurt his groin in the warm-up.

Western Australia were also without Ben Edmondson for part of their time in the field after he also suffered a groin problem, although he is a chance to bowl in the second innings. The injuries left the Warriors so undermanned that their assistant coach Trevor Penney had to take the field as a substitute.