South Australia 7 for 67 (Neser 2-13, Feldman 2-19) trail Queensland 115 (Labuschagne 36, Andrews 6-40) by 48 runs
Shane Warne’s favoured maxim “if it seams it spins” held true on day one of the Sheffield Shield match between Queensland and South Australia at the Gabba, as left-arm orthodox tweaker Tom Andrews plucked six wickets in the hosts’ paltry 115 before the Redbacks tumbled to 7 for 67 at the hands of the local pace attack in reply.
Andrews was one of the inclusions as SA sought to pull themselves out of a pronounced rut this season – the experienced duo of Callum Ferguson and Tom Cooper were among the jettisoned players. His accurate finger spin delighted in the bounce and deviation available on a fresh Gabba pitch, the ground the last of the major ones still playing a part in the Shield competition during March with all the rest handed over to football.
Having elected to bat, Queensland lost opener Matt Renshaw to Nick Winter’s left-arm swing early on, and Joe Burns was Andrews’ first victim when he was well held at mid-on, before seeming to steady via Marnus Labuschagne. However, his exit, pouched at gully when Andrews extracted steep lift, led to a slide that saw the final eight wickets go down for a mere 64 runs.
Andrews’ haul was his first of five wickets in a first-class match, after he started the season behind wristspinner Lloyd Pope, who had also enjoyed himself against Queensland with a first-innings collection of seven wickets in the earlier head-to-head fixture at Adelaide Oval.
Queensland had wriggled out of that match with a draw, and their defence of a meagre total in Brisbane was to be fired by regular wickets to Michael Neser, Luke Feldman, Cameron Gannon and Mark Steketee, while Jake Weatherald, Kelvin Smith and Travis Head all had reason to ponder their shot selection in hanging their bats out at balls angled across them.
Source: ESPN Crickinfo