Hemphrey upstages Ashes contenders as Queensland dominate

Queensland batsman Charlie Hemphrey upstaged a handful of Ashes aspirants with an unbeaten 87 to put the Bulls in control on day one against Victoria at the Junction Oval.

Hemphrey was one of the three Queensland batsmen to pass fifty, along with Test incumbents Joe Burns and Marnus Labuschagne, but he was the only one to press on from a promising start to bat for nearly two sessions to give the visitors the upper hand.

Victoria's attack was clearly rusty coming back from BBL duties, however the run-rate never got out of hand on a very flat pitch.

Queensand had no hesitation in batting first on a slow surface after the coin toss fell their way then Burns and Matt Renshaw put on 67 for the first wicket. While Burns was incredibly fluent, rotating the strike with ease, Renshaw battled on his return to four-day cricket after the BBL. He was beaten six times in the first 12 overs, struggling to feel bat on ball.

Renshaw did cash in on some bad deliveries striking four boundaries but the frugal bowling of Scott Boland squeezed him to breaking point on 29. He tried to reverse sweep the left-arm spin of Jon Holland, who was bowling around the wicket, and survived a close lbw shout with the ball pitching just outside leg stump. Next ball he played a conventional sweep and got a top edge to be caught at short fine leg.

Burns looked set for a huge score, cruising to his fifth Shield half-century of the summer. But out of nowhere just after lunch he fended away from his body at a length ball from Boland and edged to Cameron White at second slip for 60.

Labuschagne looked equally comfortable during a 90-run stand with Hemphrey. He reached his half-century just before tea but then suffered a brain fade facing the part-time offspin of Matt Short. In the last over before the interval he slog-swept the first ball for four over midwicket and paddle swept the second fine for another boundary. He then ran down the track to the third and inexplicably holed out to mid-on before putting his hands on his head in disbelief at what he had done.

Hemphrey succeeded where Labuschagne failed, keeping his composure to bat through the last session. He did have some fortune playing and missing a number of times to the quicks and survived a big lbw appeal from Chris Tremain, but he collared the spin of Holland and Short with decisive footwork and controlled placement. He added 78 with Sam Heazlett who made a neat 46 but fell to the second new ball. Jimmy Pierson remained unbeaten with Hemphrey at the close.