An unbeaten century to Callum Ferguson was the highlight of South Australia's innings of 5-256 on day one of their Sheffield Shield match with Queensland at Adelaide Oval on Tuesday.
Ferguson (115 not out) reached his first Shield century since December last year - when he scored 126 against Western Australia at the WACA - late in the day as he finished on 115 not out, steering his team to a comfortable position.
The 27-year-old's eighth first class ton came after a shaky start that saw the Redbacks lose two wickets inside the opening 10 overs to be at 2-29.
But Ferguson helped to repair the innings through timely 50-run partnerships with Michael Klinger (48) and Travis Head (22).
The Australia one-day representative forged another formidable stand worth 69 runs with wicketkeeper Tim Ludeman (33 not out) after tea, with the pair to resume on Wednesday as they look to give South Australia a very solid platform to work on.
Queensland speedster Ben Cutting was the pick of the bowlers for the Bulls with 2-46 followed by his captain James Hopes who took 2-52 after a solid early spell.
After winning the toss and electing to bat, the Redbacks found themselves in early trouble when Phil Hughes (eight) was given out LBW in the sixth over.
The 23-year-old could not build on his unbeaten 95 against Queensland in the Ryobi Cup tie on Sunday after he was struck on the pads by Hopes.
Sam Miller only contributed eight runs before he nipped Hopes through to Bulls wicketkeeper Chris Hartley who snared the ball down low.
Ferguson joined Klinger at the crease but neither looked comfortable as the visitors suffocated the run rate.
The top-order duo added just six runs from the next 24 balls until Klinger punched away back-to-back fours in the 15th over to add urgency to the innings.
Klinger should have paid the price for his aggressive approach moments later when he slashed and edged high to second slip but Nathan Hauritz (1-73) put down the catch.
The near wicket pushed the Redbacks onto the back foot as they retreated and the run rate stalled to two runs an over.
The boundary rope was only found three more times before lunch with the total at 2-75.
Upon the restart, Klinger and Ferguson continued to mend the innings, before the former dragged a cut shot onto his stumps from the bowling of Cutting.
Despite the setback, Ferguson wrestled back momentum with Head as the two combined for a quick-fire 57-run partnership.
Head smashed a six to get off the mark and rocketed three shots to the rope while Ferguson reached his half-century in the 50th over of the day.
However Head wasted a productive start when he drove straight to Hopes at short cover to give Hauritz his only wicket as tea loomed.
After tea, Ferguson worked well with Dan Christian for 37 runs before the all-rounder was bowled by Cutting for 14 to heap the pressure back on the Redbacks.
Ferguson almost fell short of his century on 85 when he looked to have been caught plumb in front, but Queensland's confident appeal was turned down.
And, with an hour to play, the right-hander brought up his desperately needed ton after 272 minutes.
First Posted 23 October, 2012 7:23PM AEST
