Winning start for Queensland in Ryobi Cup

Western Australia crashed to an 84-run defeat against Queensland in their opening match of the Ryobi One-Day Cup in Sydney. Set a middling total of 203 to chase, WA scored 118 in 42.5 overs.

Queensland, who chose to bat first, had a quiet start as Chris Hartley and Usman Khawaja added 33 off 12 overs. Khawaja fell to Ashton Agar in the 13th over, but the arrival of Joe Burns didn't get the Queensland score accelerating. Burns was eventually out for 1 off 13 balls, dismissed by Andrew Tye, and Queensland had another setback a couple of overs later when Michael Beer dismissed Chris Lynn.

That brought Nathan Reardon and Hartley together and the pair put together the highest stand of the match - 106 runs in 155 balls. Reardon took 18 balls to get off the mark but did it with a four of Ashton Agar, which he followed up with a four and a six off Beer in successive overs. Hartley settled well after a scratchy start and also hit a few boundaries as the pair focused on ensuring that Queensland reached a challenging total. By the time Hartley fell for 64 off 112 balls, Queensland were a relatively stable 150 for 4 in the 44th over. Reardon and captain James Hopes then added a brisk 52 off the remaining six overs to push Queensland past 200.

The run-outs of the WA openers, Cameron Bancroft and Marcus Harris, in the first three overs was a setback, and the side didn't recover well enough thereon to challenge Queensland. WA were a shaky 62 for 4 in the 20th over and in the next 10 overs, they could add only 20 runs for the loss of another four wickets to limp to 82 for 8. Ben Cutting and Nathan Hauritz took a wicket each but it was offspinner Jason Floros' over - the 30th of the innings - that sealed the match in favour of Queensland, as the bowler dismissed Ashton Agar and Nathan Rimmington off successive balls. A 27-run partnership between Marcus North and Jason Behrendorff delayed the inevitable result, stretching the match until the 43rd over before Lynn dismissed last man, Michael Beer.