McInerney maiden ton dents Queensland's final hopes

A maiden first-class century from South Australia opener Conor McInerney has put a major dent in Queensland's hopes of qualifying for the Sheffield Shield final after just one day the clash at Karen Rolton Oval in Adelaide.

Queensland sit in second on the Shield table and a win and enough bonus points would lock up a spot in the final which will be hosted by South Australia in Adelaide. But they conceded 359 for 4 to the ladder leaders on the opening day with the left-handed opener making 142 from 222 balls while Jason Sangha also made a very fluent 67 from 104 deliveries which included nine boundaries.

McInerney, 30, entered the match averaging just 20.34 from 47 first-class innings with a highest score of 75, coming off scores of 0 and 1 against Victoria last week. But he smashed 23 boundaries on a good pitch after his captain Nathan McSweeney won the toss and made the rare decision in Shield cricket to bat first.

McInerney reached 50 in 75 balls feasting on some wayward bowling. He was particularly savage square of the wicket off both feet and also dominated Mitchell Swepson's legspin. He brought up his century off 156 balls driving a full toss from Matt Renshaw through mid-on for another boundary. Queensland's seamers, including Michael Neser, dropped short to him again thereafter and he unfurled some outstanding pulls and uppercuts.

He finally fell to a short ball in bizarre fashion. Queensland skipper Marnus Labuschagne brought himself on to initially bowl legspin but quickly switched to medium pace and employed an ambitious short ball plan with men set deep square of the wicket. McInerney tried to awkwardly knock a ball legside for a single and popped up an easy return catch.

Following the early loss of opening partner Henry Hunt, he shared partnerships of 132 with McSweeney who looked rock solid for his 41 before he top edged a pull shot to midwicket.

He also added 85 with Sangha who looked set for a big score having taken toll of a tiring Queensland attack against the old ball. But Neser produced a stunning wobble-seam delivery with the second new ball to nip one back into Sangha's front pad and trap him lbw.

South Australia's batting kept coming though with Alex Carey returning to continue the sparkling form he showed on the Test tour of Sri Lanka and at the Champions Trophy. He raced to 46 not out from 50 balls by stumps with four fours and a six to his name. He shared a whirlwind unbeaten 53-run stand with Jake Lehmann who cruised to 27 not out from 31 deliveries coming off his match-winning unbeaten century against Victoria last Sunday.

Queensland have just seven overs tomorrow to add to their four wickets with crucial bonus points given for wickets taken in the first 100 overs of each innings.