Carey, Buckingham star but Fraser-McGurk sidelined

A record-equalling haul of catches for Test keeper Alex Carey and a career-best bag of wickets from Jordan Buckingham delivered a last-gasp Marsh One Day Cup win for South Australia who were robbed of the services of gun opener Jake Fraser-McGurk.

Having been called into Australia's T20I squad for last night's game against West Indies in Perth before being left out of the starting XI, Fraser-McGurk travelled almost 5,500km in barely 36 hours and faced not a single delivery.

The 21-year-old sensation was supposed to open the batting against Queensland today, but his pre-game preparation of extensive airline travel saw him suffer back soreness while fielding which ensured he was receiving medical treatment for most of the Bulls batting innings.

Unable to bat any higher than seven because of the time he spent off the field, Fraser-McGurk was held back as SA overhauled Queensland's total of 218 but the Redbacks are hopeful he can take his place in the Marsh Sheffield Shield match starting Friday where he's expected to open the innings.

As it turned out, conditions at Karen Rolton Oval might not have proved conducive to his electric strokemaking with Queensland rolled for the lowest one day cup score at the venue after Buckingham tore through their middle-order to snare six wickets.

"It definitely nipped a little bit more for most of the day," Buckingham said after SA's five-wicket win which was not sufficient to lift them from the bottom of the Marsh Cup ladder.

"(SA skipper) Nathan McSweeney came in towards the end of the innings and said it was still nipping around then, so a credit to the curators it was a beautiful wicket.

"You felt like, as a bowler, you were in the game all day."

While Carey became the fifth keeper to complete eight dismissals in a List A innings, two of those (Peter Nevil for New South Wales against Cricket Australia XI in 2017-18, and South African Steve Palframan for Boland in 1997-98) included a combination of catches and stumpings.

The only others to claim eight catches were James Pipe (Worcestershire) and Derek Taylor (Somerset) in British domestic one-day competitions against what were deemed 'minor counties' opposition – Hertfordshire and British Universities, respectively.

The result ensured Test batter Marnus Labuschagne's senior captaincy career got off to a losing start, but he was pleased to find form in the tough conditions and his innings-high 74 bodes as well for the upcoming series in New Zealand as did Carey's form behind the stumps.

On the same ground where Fraser-McGurk set a new one-day batting benchmark with a 29-ball century against Tasmania earlier this season, today's records stemmed from the domination by ball on Rolton Oval's drop-in pitch that helped redress the balance.

Sent into bat, Queensland's top-order was initially unable to cope with the outright speed of Henry Thornton who removed openers Max Bryant (0) and Ben McDermott (4) in a fiery six-over spell that yielded the stunning return of 2-7.

Thornton would have recorded even better numbers had he been able to hang on to a one-handed return catch high to his right when Labuschagne had scored just five, and the Bulls were hanging on grimly at 2-28 in the eighth over.

But while Labuschagne proved his team's batting mainstay with a 99-ball stay as wickets tumbled around him, it was the introduction of Buckingham and his remarkable union with Carey that swung the game in SA's favour.

The first of the pair's four consecutive dismissals was one of the Test gloveman's best, a diving effort down the leg side from an attempted glance by fellow New Zealand touring party member Matthew Renshaw who had looked as comfortable as any early Queensland batter in compiling 21.

In his subsequent over, Buckingham removed Jack Clayton via an outside edge that had Carey moving smartly to his right before next ball he plucked the most spectacular of his eight snares when diving full-length to his left to complete a low, one-handed grab off Jack Wildermuth.

That double strike reduced the Bulls to 5-47 and eyeing their lowest one-day total of a lean summer.

But Labuschagne's counter-punching knock and a belligerent 10th wicket stand of 55 from 40 balls between Matt Kuhnemann (36 off 23) and Mitchell Swepson (16no off 19) carried them past last week's previous low watermark of 150 against Tasmania.

The Australia Test number three could not have wished for a more challenging preparation ahead of the upcoming two-match campaign against the Black Caps, with today's initial joust with Thornton and Buckingham the equal of any battle he's faced in the red-ball arena.

"It was a nice challenge, unfortunately I couldn’t get that really big score to get us to around 280 which I think would have been a really competitive score," Labuschagne said tonight.

"It really suited their attack, they've got four front line seamers.

"Unfortunately it didn’t go our way with the toss, and sometimes these games look a little bit different depending on whether you lose the toss or win the toss."

When he muscled a pull shot from a rare Thornton short ball over mid-wicket to the boundary, the first four SA's paceman conceded in his six-over spell, Labuschagne had managed just seven from 34 deliveries faced.

But the introduction of Ben Manenti's spin in the 23rd over helped him find some rhythm, and he reached 50 from 79 balls as Queensland limped beyond 100.

He found a willing ally in debutant keeper Dillon McLachlan who solidly survived Buckingham's hat-trick ball and then unfurled an array of strokes before both he and Labuschagne fell victim to Carey's unerring gloves.

Labuschagne's maiden captain's knock ended when he top-edged an attempted pull that flew to short fine leg, while McLachlan's bid to lift the run rate with a reverse sweep against McSweeney's off-spin that ballooned within diving distance of the keeper after the rookie had made 44 from 77 balls.

Carey then claimed the record for most catches by a keeper at List A level in Australia when Gurinder Sandhu feathered a big swing at Buckingham, completing the fast bowler's first five-wicket bag in just his fourth domestic one-day appearance.

The 23-year-old, who claimed 5-80 for the Prime Minister's XI in the first-class match against Pakistan at Canberra last December, then rattled Connor Sully's stumps to pick up a sixth scalp and his first of the day without assistance from Carey.

Buckingham finished his 10 overs with 6-41, the best men's one-day return for SA since the 6-41 against NSW in 2006 by ex-Test speedster Shaun Tait who also boasts the competition's best-ever figures with 8-43 versus Tasmania at Adelaide Oval in 2004.

Carey was unable to reprise his keeping heroics with the bat, holing out to deep mid-wicket in the fourth over and when stand-in opener Jake Winter departed for 20, SA were slightly nervous at 2-44 and still 175 from victory.

But a breezy 119-run third-wicket stand (from 125 balls) dominated by Kelly put the Redbacks in charge before Queensland-born McSweeney – who led Brisbane Heat to his year's BBL title – brought up a patient half-century to all-but see his adopted state home.

Marsh Cup 2023-24 standings

Team	Matches played M	Wins W	Losses L	Ties T	No results N/R	Net Run Rate NRR	Deductions Ded.	Batting Bonus Bat	Total points PTS
1 NSW Men NSW	7	5	2	0	0	0.33	0	2	22
2 Western Australia Men WA	7	5	2	0	0	0.543	0	1	21
3 Victoria Men VIC	7	5	2	0	0	0.232	0	1	21
4 Tasmanian Tigers Men TAS	7	3	4	0	0	-0.201	0	1	13
5 Queensland Bulls QLD	7	1	5	0	1	-0.735	0	1	7
6 South Australia Men SA	7	1	5	0	1	-0.327	1	0	5

Legend

M: Matches played

W: Wins

L: Losses

T: Ties

N/R: No results

NRR: Net Run Rate

Ded.: Deductions

Bat: Batting Bonus

PTS: Total points