Blues wrap up big pre-Christmas win

New South Wales 438 and 7 for 209 dec beat Queensland 236 and 151 (Bollinger 3-25, Nicholson 3-25) by 260 runs
Scorecard

New South Wales jumped back to the top of the Pura Cup table with a crushing 260-run win over Queensland, who lost seven wickets in one session on the final day. The Bulls have had a horror start to their season and their fourth defeat was confirmed just before lunch when Matthew Nicholson collected his third victim of the innings.

The Bulls began the day on 3 for 79 chasing an unlikely 412 and it seemed that Brisbane's stormy weather forecast might be their only salvation. But they lost 7 for 72 in less than two hours and especially struggled against Nicholson and Doug Bollinger, who each finished with 3 for 25.

Queensland's bleak day began to unfold when Jimmy Maher (12) was bowled by Bollinger on the overnight total. Not even their allround hero Ashley Noffke could save them and he fell to Grant Lambert for 8.

A brief 38-run stand between Chris Hartley and Daniel Doran followed before Hartley was caught behind off Stuart Clark for 23 and Nicholson had Doran (15) also caught behind in the next over. Nicholson finished the job by removing Michael Kasprowicz for 1 and the Blues breathed a sigh of relief that the weather would not ruin their party.

Queensland have some major concerns in the Pura Cup, where they are now winless from their opening six matches this season. Their promotion of Shane Watson to open continued to be a failure - he made 13 and 0 in this match - and their coach Terry Oliver predicted he might move back down the order for the next game.