Bird injured as Queensland close in on top position

A hamstring strain has given Jackson Bird an injury scare ahead of the South Africa tour, for which Australia depart next week with a tour match scheduled to begin on February 22. Bird sustained the injury in the Sheffield Shield match against Queensland in Brisbane, where he walked off the field after bowling 15.1 overs on the second day and didn't take the field on the third to undergo scans.

Queensland, meanwhile, took strong steps towards going on top of the table by taking six Tasmania wickets in the massive chase of 426. Tasmania scored 208 runs and still need 218 more for victory.

Tasmania's No. 4 Jake Doran (95) was responsible for a large portion of those runs as he steadied them after an early burst from Queensland's new-ball bowlers Michael Neser and Luke Feldman who reduced Tasmania to 3 for 55. The recovery arrived through two 50-plus partnerships that Doran built - for 61 runs with Matthew Wade, and then for 59 with Ben McDermott. Even as Wade and McDermott got out in the twenties, Doran hauled Tasmania past the 200 mark, before being caught off the legbreak of Mitchell Swepson, 10 balls before stumps were drawn.

Neser inflicted the bulk of the damage with three wickets, while Swepson, Feldman and Jack Wildermuth took a wicket apiece.

The day began with Queensland on 6 for 195 in in their second innings, having already established an overall lead of 335. Jimmy Peirson stretched that lead with a half-century and extended his overnight partnership with Neser, who chipped in with a valuable 34. Peirson was the ninth man dismissed, for 61, before Queensland folded for 285.

With Bird off the field and Gabe Bell, who carved up the middle order on the second day, also under an injury cloud, Wade got to turn his arm over for his very occasional medium-pace and struck in three consecutive overs for lower-order wickets, including that of Peirson. Bell had taken 3 for 42 and Wade finished with 3 for 13.