Queensland face a mountain to climb if they are to challenge Tasmania in their final-round Sheffield Shield match and clinch second spot from Victoria
Match Report:
ScorecardBulls' Shield final hopes fade as Webster cashes in
Queensland's Marsh Sheffield Shield final hopes are hanging by a thread midway through their match against Tasmania in Hobart after another poor day for the visitors.
The Bulls ended the second day on 6-180, still 299 runs in arrears of the hosts.
With Victoria also in the box seat in their clash with Western Australia in Perth, Queensland need to get ahead of the Vics on bonus points and also stage a comeback victory over the Tigers to be any chance of reaching the Shield finale.
Queensland trail Victoria by 1.02 points halfway through the final round of the 2022-23 season and need to reach 303 runs in the first 100 overs of their first innings to jump into second.
Jackson Bird has two, and Queensland are in early trouble at Blundstone Arena!#SheffieldShield | #TASvQLD pic.twitter.com/BLMWqaiAXX
%E2%80%94 cricket.com.au (@cricketcomau) March 15, 2023
That means they need 123 more runs in 50 overs on day three with four wickets remaining.
Max Bryant remains Queensland's last hope of not only getting close to Tasmania's 7-479 declared but earning the first-innings batting points required to topple Victoria.
The No.5 ended the day on 62 not out, hitting nine boundaries in his 64-ball innings.
Gurinder Sandhu is the other batter at the crease, undefeated on 24no.
Doubt remains over fast bowler Mark Steketee's ability to bat after he was deemed "unlikely" to bowl again during the match after being forced off with a hip injury on day one.
Steketee's injury compounded a woeful opening day for the Bulls in Hobart, with fellow strike bowler Michael Neser ruled out of the match with an ankle injury suffered during the warm-up.
Queensland's poor run continued at the start of their innings with the visitors slipping to 2-13.
The only other major contributors with the bat were opener Bryce Street (34) and Jack Clayton (40).
Batting seemed much easier earlier in the day at Blundstone Arena as Tasmania added 154 runs in three hours to their overnight score of 6-325.
Beau Webster was the backbone of Tasmania's innings hitting 168 not out for his first century of the season and eighth Shield ton.
Spinner Jarrod Freeman was the other major contributor with a career-best 63 not out, putting on an unbroken eighth-wicket stand of 122 with Webster.