After a wild second day at the MCG, Jimmy Peirson has led Queensland to a chance for their first Sheffield Shield triumph of the summer against Victoria.
Queensland was beaten at 195 for 8 in their second innings and had a 244-run advantage on a day when 15 wickets were lost in the first two sessions.
Just before the end, Peirson was out for 82, but not before he and Mark Steketee, who hit 48 not out, formed an important 119-run eighth-wicket partnership.
The low-scoring encounter hung somewhat in Queensland’s favor ahead of Sunday’s play because of the two-and-a-half-hour vigil between the two teams, which was completely out of sync with the rest of the day.
Victoria lost Peter Handscomb in the opening over after starting the match at 43 for 2, when he edged Xavier Bartlett to Matt Renshaw at second slip.
Rain lingered over the MCG for a portion of the morning, and Bartlett concluded with a score of 5 for 32, setting the tone for the remaining four hours of play.
Only Handscomb (24) and Tom Rogers (11) and Marcus Harris (42), who were all out for 123 to give up a 49-run lead in the first innings, managed to reach double digits for Victoria.
Then, into the second innings for Queensland, the mayhem persisted. Fergus O’Neill, who is in form, removed Bryce Street and Angus Lovell with two wickets in his opening over after another LBW call was denied.
Renshaw drove in the air and punched the ball off his pads as he appeared to be in dominant form for Queensland.
As one of three early wickets for quick Sam Elliott, Jonathan Merlo also collected a superb one-handed diving catch at point to dismiss Ben McDermott.
Just before tea, Queensland was down 67 for 7, and their drought-breaking season opener against ladder-leaders Victoria was beginning to look wobbly.
The wicketkeeper-batter drove the Victoria quicks when they erred too full, making him and Steketee the only batters to appear at ease throughout the day. As the innings progressed, Peirson also showed good cutting and pulling skills, hitting spinner Todd Murphy for two boundaries through the covers in a single over.
Steketee caused some damage as well, blasting Murphy well over the long-on boundary and hitting four boundaries in his knock.
Additionally, he and Steketee had given Queensland the minor lead, even though Mitch Perry had set up Peirson in a packed legside field late.
