Assured Khawaja leads Bulls

Day one Queensland 5 for 202 (Khawaja 88) v South Australia
Scorecard

Usman Khawaja wasted little time showing his potential worth to Queensland, compiling a sturdy 88 in the Sheffield Shield match against South Australia as the Bulls reached 5 for 202 on a bowlers' day at the Gabba.

Naming Khawaja's former New South Wales teammate Phillip Hughes in their XI alongside the debutant Sam Miller, the Redbacks were happy to be in the field under cloudy skies on a green-tinged pitch, but were unable to engineer a rush of wickets.

Instead, they spent much of the day watching Khawaja show how to bat in testing conditions, taking his time, cutting and pulling short deliveries from the pacemen, then advancing to attack the spin of the Test spinner - and acting Redbacks captain - Nathan Lyon later on.

Khawaja gave one chance, a difficult catch to Gary Putland at fine leg on 11, but was otherwise assured. He has a particularly strong record against SA, and this innings took his tally to 918 runs at 76.50 in 13 innings.

He looked likely to add to his five centuries against the Redbacks but was ultimately out 12 short, pinned LBW by the swinging mediums of Chadd Sayers, who had also dismissed Wade Townsend LBW in the second over of the match.

The left-armer Gary Putland was another to claim two wickets, including that of the Australia A tourist Joe Burns for 35. James Hopes and the wicketkeeper Chris Hartley will resume on day two with the expectation of further runs.