Queensland have rolled New South Wales for 171 to claim their fourth straight Ryobi Cup win of the season by a whopping 50 runs.
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Queensland have rolled New South Wales for 171 to claim their fourth straight Ryobi Cup win of the season by a whopping 50 runs.
Queensland's 221 had seemed a subpar total on a true Gabba deck, but their clinical all-round bowling performance delivered the bonus-point win.
James Hopes, Brad Ipson, Ben Cutting and Cameron Gannon had two wickets each, while Alister McDermott finished with a very economical 1-33 from 10 overs.
Moises Henrique (38) and Steve Smith (34) were the best of the Blues, batting sensibly for 11 overs in a rebuilding partnership of 48, before Smith had a lapse and bunted Gannon straight to Peter Forrest at short midwicket.
And a plucky 42-run ninth-wicket stand between Mitchell Starc (34 not out) and Josh Lalor (13) helped put some respectability to the scoreline.
The tone was set from the very start of the Blues innings, as wickets fell at one, eight, 11 and then 32 in the 12th over.
At 5-92 halfway through the match, the Blues looked to still be fancying their chances with Henriques and Peter Nevill (16) at the crease, but when the keeper-batsman spooned back to Hopes in the 29th the result seemed a foregone conclusion.
Australia A call-up Ben Cutting didn't finish with his prettiest figures of the season, but bowled with pace and managed to dismiss former Test opener Simon Katich for single digits for the third time in five days.
And Cutting had a big hand in Queensland's controversial fourth wicket. Ben Rohrer pushed to the covers, set off for a run and then aborted, turning back where he would have made his ground if not for an accidental tangle Ben Cutting.
Hopes' direct hit had the Blues left-hander short and when the third umpire ruled there'd been no intentional interference and Hopes declined to withdraw the appeal, Rohrer was on his way.
The Bulls would have felt their 4-57 start was poor, but New South Wales took the cake, stumbling to 4-32.
Mitchell Starc was the chief destroyer, skittling the tail to finish with an impressive 5-39.
Chris Lynn (61) and Nathan Reardon (50) did the lion's share of the run scoring for the hosts, combining in an aggressive 93-run stand to bring the side out of trouble and towards a competitive score.
After a frustrated start to the season, Lynn's clean-striking innings would have come as a welcome sign for the Queensland camp.
The 21-year-old's knock included two crisply-timed sixes to bring up the Bulls' 100 and then his own 50, and was a fair reminder of the massive potential shown in his first two seasons.
