Queensland win despite Gillespie half-century
Jason Gillespie struck a half-century in his final match for South Australia but he was denied a fairytale farewell as Queensland completed their first win of the Pura Cup season
Cricinfo staff
03-Mar-2008
Queensland 8 for 456 dec beat South Australia 237 and 210 (Christian 72, Gillespie 51, Noffke 3-41) by an innings and 9 runs
Scorecard
Scorecard
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Jason Gillespie struck a half-century in his final match for South Australia but he was denied a fairytale farewell as Queensland completed their first win of the Pura Cup season. The Bulls needed only two wickets on the fourth day to wrap up the success and they achieved an innings victory despite the resistance from Gillespie and Daniel Christian.
The pair added 100 for the ninth wicket and it looked like Gillespie would get another chance to bowl as they edged closer to making Queensland bat again. They reached lunch with no loss but Gillespie fell for 51 soon after the break.
Christian and Dan Cullen tried to sneak ahead of the Bulls before Christian was the last man out, caught behind off Ashley Noffke for 72. It was his second half-century in three first-class games and his presence in the middle-order has been a rare bonus for the Redbacks, who are struggling to build big scores without the retired Darren Lehmann and Matthew Elliott.
They lost by an innings and nine runs to give Jimmy Maher, the Queensland captain, a perfect farewell in what was also his last Pura Cup match. The Bulls remain on the bottom of the competition table but with one game to go they still have time to jump ahead of South Australia.
The match also marked a milestone for Noffke, who became the third Australian and the first Queensland player to reach the double of 50 wickets and 500 runs in an Australian first-class season. Noffke has 51 wickets and 741 runs for the summer.