Renshaw steers Queensland to eighth Shield title

Queensland 516 (Hemphrey 77, Wildermuth 73, Neser 58, Webster 3-83) and 1 for 128 (Renshaw 81*, Burns 41) beat Tasmania 477 (Wade 108, Silk 76, Rainbird 57, Doggett 5-101) and 1 for 166 dec (Doolan 82*, Silk 74) by nine wickets
Scorecard

Queensland joyfully accepted a desperate declaration and charged to their first Sheffield Shield title in six years during a rain-interrupted conclusion at Allan Border Field in Brisbane on Tuesday.

Tasmania gambled after a lengthy delay in the hope of a last-minute heist, but Queensland moved swiftly through the South Africa-bound Matt Renshaw to secure the nine-wicket win.

Renshaw learned of his national call-up during the day, and he celebrated it with an unbeaten second-innings 81. While he waits to learn whether he replaces Cameron Bancroft or David Warner in the fourth Test, he warmed up with a muscular display of 12 fours and two sixes, including crashing a cut to the boundary for the winning runs.

Queensland are full of potential and this was the right result perhaps, but neither side was able to show their full wares in a truncated game. Tasmania returned on the final morning at 0 for 10, with Alex Doolan and Jordan Silk trying to transform the game into a T20 contest and an unlikely victory push.

As the batsmen opened their shoulders, Queensland spread the field. At one point during the 160-run stand, everyone but the bowler and wicketkeeper was on the boundary. Silk cleared the ropes twice in his 74 and Doolan was even more destructive in his unbeaten 82 off 74 deliveries, striking four sixes before bad light and heavy rain arrived at the stroke of lunch.

That meant the outfield was unsuitable for play during the four-hour delay. This forced Tasmania into declaring at 1 for 166, setting Queensland 128 in at least 32 overs, but the locals would not be stopped. Joe Burns kept Renshaw company with 41 on the way to the state's eighth Shield trophy.

Queensland's golden age began under Stuart Law's captaincy in the 1990s and included players of the stature of Allan Border, Matthew Hayden, Carl Rackemann, Andy Bichel, Michael Kasprowicz and Andrew Symonds. The current squad is filled with young faces and even the committed cricket fan might struggle to recognise anyone other than Burns or Renshaw when they are wearing whites.

Captained by Jimmy Peirson, the side has the 33-year-old paceman Luke Feldman as its elder statesman, but is mostly a band of up-and-comers alongside the journeyman from England, Charlie Hemphrey. Until Tuesday, Burns was the only player in the side to have lifted the Shield, when Queensland beat Tasmania at the Gabba in 2011-12.

Queensland finished the group rounds comfortably on top, winning a game more than any other opponent, and its players were able to stare down Tasmania's regularly-interrupted challenge throughout this contest.

After the first-day abandonment, Tasmania posted a healthy 477, but Queensland went further in their response, with everyone contributing at least double figures. The coach Wade Seccombe, who was the wicketkeeper in the state's first Shield victory in 1994-95, now has the opportunity to build the outfit into a unit craving long-term success.