Bulls humble Tigers to close on finals berth

The last time a Queensland team played a one-day match in Hobart, it suffered a crushing loss that effectively ended the state's limited-overs season. Today, circumstances were reversed as the Bulls' 76-run walloping of Tasmania served as the springboard for a likely appearance in the ING Cup Final this summer.

The Bulls lost the toss, suffered a middle order collapse, and were under-strength - with their captain unavailable and three other top-line players missing.

They also registered no more than a moderate-looking total of 8/203 upon being invited to bat first here at the Bellerive Oval.

Yet they never seemed under threat once new ball bowlers Joe Dawes (3/26) and James Hopes (1/16) had each made incisions at the start of a flimsy Tasmanian reply. Ashley Noffke (4/32), backing up a valuable unbeaten 21 with the bat, then guaranteed the home team's demise by wrecking its middle order with skilful pace bowling.

Impressively, the visitors didn't seem perturbed by the absence of national representatives Andy Bichel, Andrew Symonds and Matthew Hayden and captain Stuart Law - at home for the birth of his son. The loss of paceman Michael Kasprowicz, who left the field after feeling slight soreness in a hamstring, was easily overcome as well.

Young all-rounder - and former Queensland junior - Shane Watson (53) offered the illusion of a Tasmanian revival with an accomplished innings amid crisis. With errors being committed all around him, though, there was little he could do to help avert a slide that saw seven wickets fall for the addition of just 65 runs.

"It probably wasn't the sort of total we were after with the bat but 'Joey' (Dawes) and 'Hopesey' started us off brilliantly and the rest of us were lucky to get a few wickets in the middle," said Noffke in the wake of a win that gave the Bulls maximum points and a vital five-point buffer at the head of the Cup standings.

"We came down here (wanting) to concentrate on the basics of the one-day game. We did that well and it was great to come out of it with a bonus point.

"No matter what position we're in, we believe that we can win. That we'll get ourselves out of a bad position. It's all about belief and trusting our ability.

"It's a superb position for us to be in (on the table) now but we still want to win every game we go into obviously."

With only one win from 11 previous outings this summer, the odds were arguably stacked against Tasmania from the start. They lengthened when Brendan Nash (63) and Jimmy Maher (31) joined in a composed opening stand of 62 after the latter, in his temporary role as skipper, had experienced defeat at the toss.

The match tightened as the Tasmanian bowlers lured a succession of middle order batsmen into over-ambitious strokes. Only an intelligent unbroken liaison of 40 for the ninth wicket between Noffke and Nathan Hauritz (18*) quelled the Tasmanians' determined fightback.

But the gulf in the two teams' confidence and self-belief was re-defined almost as soon as the Tasmanians began the chase.

On a pitch that captain Jamie Cox later described as being over-generous to the bowlers, eight of the Tigers' top nine batsmen added further complexity to the task by falling to the strokes of millionaires.

"We're playing terribly; simple errors are turning into catastrophes," lamented Cox after the match.

"We're embarrassed, disappointed and upset.

"My head's a bit of a muddle (after that) but we've just got to figure out a way forward."

Openers Michael Di Venuto (6) and Michael Dighton (1) offered catching practice to Maher at second slip. Cox (15) drove a catch straight to mid off; Sean Clingeleffer (0) spooned another to cover; Shaun Young (4) heaved across the line; and Daniel Marsh (8), Scott Kremerskothen (4) and Graeme Cunningham (2) all chased deliveries they would have been well advised to leave alone.

It was a tame display - to add to a rapidly swelling collection of them this season for the last-placed Tigers.

They continued to prove that the limited-overs game is not easy when confidence is low and when the next win seems a mile away.

Though they only had to look across a passage way, to the opposite dressing room, to note that reversals can sometimes come in a hurry.