Queensland's phenomenal start to the Sheffield Shield season has continued as paceman Ben Cutting led them to a 192-run thrashing of Western Australia at the WACA Ground on Friday.
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Queensland's phenomenal start to the Sheffield Shield season has continued as paceman Ben Cutting led them to a 192-run thrashing of Western Australia at the WACA Ground on Friday.
Centuries to Ryan Broad (135 off 225 balls with 25 boundaries) and Peter Forrest (132 not out) helped the Bulls set WA an unrealistic target of 394, before Cutting ripped through the hosts with five second-innings wickets as they capitulated to be bowled out for 201 just before tea on day four.
The result saw Queensland maintain their perfect Shield record this season which has yielded three outright wins from as many matches and they hold a 10-point lead at the top of the table.
The work of Broad, who won man-of-the-match honours, and Forrest in posting their eighth and fifth Shield centuries respectively was well supported by Cutting, who ensured the visitors overcame significant rain delays earlier in the match and moved a step closer to their 11th final in 14 seasons.
The 24-year-old paceman took 5-12 in 37 balls at one stage in WA's second innings before finishing with 5-43 off 14 overs, his fourth five-wicket haul in the competition.
Teenage opener Marcus Harris carried his bat to post a gallant 91 not out - his second highest score in the competition - but none of the other batsmen stood up in the Warriors' equal-seventh heaviest Shield defeat.
One of very few positives in the match for the Warriors was the bowling performance of all-rounder Mitch Marsh, who finished with match figures of 9-156.
And Marsh will have to carry much of WA's bowling load in the immediate future, with Nathan Coulter-Nile (side strain) expected to miss four to six weeks while Matt Dixon (heel) will also join Mark Cameron, Ryan Duffield, Brad Knowles and Martin Paskal on the sidelines.
Queensland came out on the final day in search of quick runs and it saw them lose 5-9 at one stage, before an unbroken 37-run stand between Forrest and Alister McDermott allowed captain Chris Hartley to declare at 9-341.
The visitors left themselves just 94 overs to take the 10 wickets, while WA needed to score at 4.19 per over to complete the second-biggest successful fourth-innings chase at the ground in Shield history, but it soon became apparent there could only be one result.
Liam Davis and Wes Robinson fell in the 72 minutes the Warriors had to face before lunch, but it was the dismissal of Marcus North for 27 after lunch which sparked the collapse.
WA lost 5-25 after the captain departed and slumped to 7-90 before the tail provided some late relief.
Harris combined with Michael Beer (11), Michael Hogan (17) and Matt Dixon (22) to add 111 runs for the final three wickets and frustrate the Bulls for more than 90 minutes before debutant Matthew Gale (2-40) took the final wicket.
