RESULT
(D/N), Brisbane, December 08, 2000, Mercantile Mutual Cup
(50 ov, T:284) 278/9

NSW won by 5 runs

Player Of The Match
103 (116)
matthew-hayden
Report

Blues hold firm to clinch thriller

Despite a Matthew Hayden century, New South Wales has defeated Queensland by five runs to take the points in a thrilling Mercantile Mutual Cup match between the teams in Brisbane tonight

Steve Magoffin
08-Dec-2000
Despite a Matthew Hayden century, New South Wales has defeated Queensland by five runs to take the points in a thrilling Mercantile Mutual Cup match between the teams in Brisbane tonight.
After winning the toss and inserting their opponents, the Bulls were faced with an aggressive Mark Higgs who powered his way to 24 in a run-a-minute innings. The Queenslanders did enjoy some early success when, first, Higgs was dismissed and then quickly followed back to the pavilion by Mark Waugh (8). Both dismissals came from fine outfield catches.
Higgs attempted to pull the last ball of Lee Carseldine's third over but merely succeeded in skying the ball to the vacant area between wicketkeeper Wade Seccombe and Brendan Creevey at fine leg. Creevey made up a lot of ground to leave himself a final diving effort to claim the catch.
Michael Bevan (83) and Michael Slater (50) then combined to produce a 111 run partnership with Slater posting his half-century from the unfamiliar position of number four in the order. It was not until the Blues' score approached 250 that Adam Dale (1/49 off ten overs) was finally able to snare the wicket that the Bulls had so badly required for much of the innings - that of Bevan. But, even after the loss of the prolific left hander to a lofted shot down the ground and captain Shane Lee (5) shortly thereafter, Corey Richards (73*) filled the breach brilliantly to continue the Blues' push toward a large total. The wicket of Lee had given medium pacer Scott Prestwidge (2/63 off ten overs) a share of top spot on the all-time list of leading wicket-takers in Australian domestic one-day competition and the thirty-two year old Queenslander then claimed the lead on his own late in the innings when he encouraged Graeme Rummans (8) to whip a ball uppishly toward Stuart Law.
Richards played a superb innings - acting as second fiddle to Bevan initially before taking control when his more experienced partner was dismissed. He helped put the seal on an excellent afternoon of batting from the Blues against an attack that struggled for much success. Prestwidge, statistically, proved the most productive and Dale contained the batsmen well at either end of the innings. But, at 6/283, the early honours had clearly been assumed by the visitors.
The Bulls produced an excellent start in reply, albeit around the early departure of Law (6), who was promoted to the opening position in the Australia 'A'-enforced absence of Jimmy Maher. Hayden (103) and Andrew Symonds (32) set about plundering the attack to all corners of the ground in a six-over assault that set up the Bulls' early charge. Symonds brutally cracked three consecutive boundaries off one Nathan Bracken (1/53 off ten overs) over and then followed up by scoring another seven runs off the following over, from leg spinner Stuart MacGill (1/48 off seven), as Hayden took a back seat.
Even Symonds' dismissal, in the sixteenth over, failed to significantly slow things down; it was all Hayden, in fact, as he cruised to an eighth domestic one-day century and swelled his career run tally over two thousand (at the amazing average of sixty-four no less) in the process. His innings was punctuated by nine boundaries and two towering sixes. In the end, the Blues needed something out of the ordinary to dismiss the rampaging opener and it came, in the fortieth over, when he was stumped off a wide from Waugh (1/25 from four overs).
Geoff Foley (57), on return after a relatively long absence from Queensland's first team, carried the impetus forward, compiling a half-century of his own. But, when he was deceived by Bracken in the forty-fifth over, the game turned again.
Seccombe (22), Carseldine (9) and Creevey (5) lost their wickets in quick succession as the Bulls' tried to accelerate the pace of the innings further and, in the twinkling of an eye, the visitors had reassumed control. In the end, the Bulls were left to try and pinch twelve runs from the final over. But medium pacer Shawn Bradstreet (4/53 off ten overs) had held his nerve impressively throughout the closing stages - unlucky not to complete a hat-trick at one point when a beseeching lbw shout against Dale (9*) was turned down - and sealed the job with a controlled final over in which he consistently resisted any temptation to err on the short side.

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TEAMMWLDPTNRR
WA10630290.172
NSW10640260.243
SOA1064025-0.084
QLD1045020-0.179
TAS10460190.137
VIC1037014-0.258