Hopes bowls Bulls to season-opening win
Queensland were in big trouble at 6 for 20 in their second innings but importantly held an overall lead of 150 over Tasmania on the second day of an eventful match at the Gabba
Cricinfo staff
12-Oct-2008
Queensland 236 and 62 (Hilfenhaus 5-14, Geeves 3-35) beat Tasmania 106 and 144 (Hopes 4-24, Noffke 3-41) by 48 runs
Scorecard
Scorecard
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Queensland were bundled out for 62, their fourth-lowest Sheffield Shield total, but still secured a 48-run win over Tasmania on a minefield at the Gabba. The Bulls utterly failed in their second innings but thanks to a tail-end fightback in their first attempt they set the Tigers 193 for victory, a target that was too tall with James Hopes and Ashley Noffke exploiting the conditions.
At 1 for 55 it looked like Tasmania might be a chance as Rhett Lockyear and Travis Birt battled hard. But the loss of Birt, who was caught behind off Hopes for 24, triggered a mini-collapse. The Tigers lost 3 for 13, including Lockyear for 34, and Noffke then proceeded to tackle the lower order.
The last two pairs needed to find 85 between them and although Xavier Doherty did not give up and remained unbeaten on 29, his tail-end colleagues could not hang around. Hopes picked up the final two wickets to finish with 4 for 24, giving the Bulls a win in their first game of 2008-09 after they finished on the bottom of the table last summer.
It also erased any negative feelings they had about their second innings. They began the day at a scarcely believable 6 for 20 and only fighting 16s from Noffke and Chris Swan saved them from recording an all-time low total. Ben Hilfenhaus finished with 5 for 14 but it was destined to be in a losing side as the match ended within three days.