Queensland fall seven short in thrilling draw

Queensland fell just seven runs short of their target of 297, with three wickets in hand, as their match against Western Australia ended in a thrilling draw on the fourth day in Perth. Going strong at 2 for 203 at one point on the back of Joe Burns' century, Queensland needed 50 runs off 39 balls, and later 34 off 32. However, they suffered a collapse from 3 for 243 to 7 for 286 and needed 12 off the final over but Matthew Kelly - who took a five-for - conceded only five runs. Charlie Hemphrey led Queensland with 60 off 52 balls until they were 16 away from the target, but he fell with 10 balls left in the day.

Queensland were dented early in the chase by Kelly, who had Matt Renshaw caught behind for 7 in the sixth over, before Burns and Labuschagne stitched a partnership of 154 at 4.69 runs per over to rally the score towards 200. Kelly trapped Labuschagne lbw for 72 in the 39th over and bowled Burns for 103 seven overs later when Queensland were 94 away from the target. Hemphrey steered them closer but Mitchell Marsh removed Jack Wildermuth and Queensland lost four wickets for 43 runs as Kelly struck twice more. Queensland's chances decreased further once Hemphrey was caught off Marsh and they ended on 7 for 290 in 59 overs.

As many as 431 runs were score on the day as Western Australia stretched their score from an overnight 5 for 165 to declare on 8 for 306 in just over 34 overs. They were in trouble early in the day when they lost three wickets for five runs and were 8 for 196 with a lead of 186. However, Ashton Turner took his score from 30 to an unbeaten 101 off 160 balls and was assisted by No. 11 Jason Behrendorff who struck a patient 39 off 83. They put together 110 unbeaten runs before the declaration. Josh Inglish, the other overnight batsman, had struck 54, before Wildermuth removed him and Andrew Holder in consecutive overs, and Kelly fell for a duck.

Behrendorff was nursing a back injury and did not bowl on Sunday and Monday.