Neser spells out Test case as batters fluff final lines

A triumvirate of Australia's incumbent top-order might have failed to mount a compelling closing argument for inclusion in the Test squad announced on Thursday, but a late bid by unlikely allrounder Michael Neser might yet influence the selectors' thinking.

Queensland pair Joe Burns (11) and Marnus Labuschagne (14) fell cheaply in their team's truncated second innings, before South Australia skipper Travis Head was removed for a second-ball duck in the Redbacks' forlorn pursuit of 448 for outright victory.

Or a further three sessions of batting to secure a draw, as they resume tomorrow at 4-68, with sultry conditions and potential storms forecast.

Burns's dismissal, via a loose hook shot that extended his run of low scores, was the only one of those three batting failures to cause concern for selection chair Trevor Hohns, who was at Glenelg Oval for several hours today before returning to the other Shield games in progress in Adelaide.

But it was the over that accounted for in-form Head, amidst an outstanding last-session spell from Bulls seamer Neser, that could provoke the most spirited discussion when Hohns's panel convenes via telephone tomorrow to name their expanded squad for the four-Test Vodafone Series against India.

Neser has been in and around the Test set-up for more than a year, as a member of the outfit that retained the Ashes in England and then on the periphery of the starting XI for home campaigns against Pakistan and New Zealand last summer.

His case for selection was boosted in the opening round of Shield matches this season when he posted his maiden first-class century, but bowling remains the skills set that will determine his path to a Baggy Green Cap.

So when he worked over SA's number three Will Bosisto (11 from 78 balls) and Head in the space of three deliveries to spearhead Queensland's victory push as thunderstorms closed in mid-afternoon, his stocks rose bullishly.

Bosisto had been in occupation for more than an hour and a half, and it took a clever delivery – angling in to the right-hander before straightening slightly off the surface – to remove him.

Although it was an even better catch from keeper Jimmy Peirson, who was airborne to his right as he pouched the edge in his outstretched glove.

Neser's follow-up ball – his first to Head – brought an immediately immaculate change in line to the left-hander but a similarly speculative forward push from the Test batter, before Neser found the edge with his next effort that was simply too good for his quarry.

"I'm just trying to put it out of my mind to be honest," Neser said tonight when asked about his Test squad expectations.

"Whatever happens, happens … it's out of my control.

"The only thing I can control is out there.

"It's been quite a flat wicket this game so I've been working hard and just doing my role.

"I'm just happy that I picked up a couple of wickets today, so all that hard work is paying off."

The 30-year-old is likely vying with New South Wales seamer Sean Abbott (who also scored his maiden first-class ton today) for a place in the Test squad behind front-line quicks Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and James Pattinson.

But with an expanded group of up to 18 expected to be named, he will surely figure in tomorrow's discussions.

As will Burns, though in altogether different context given he has scored just 57 runs from five innings in the current Marsh Sheffield Shield campaign with a best effort of 29 against NSW.

Under pressure from uncapped Victoria opener Will Pucovski to keep his place, Burns was a study in caution and concentration as Queensland began their second innings which was always going to be an exercise in brevity given their huge lead and uncertainty over tomorrow's stormy weather.

The right-hander stretched forward intently in defence having surrendered his wicket to an airy drive on the opening morning, but looked to be finding touch with a couple of boundaries from SA seamer Chadd Sayers, the first a sweet cover drive and the second a delicate dab behind point.

It was therefore a surprise, and an obvious disappointment to the opener, when he swung needlessly at a lofty Sayers bouncer that pitched outside off stump, with the most impressive element of the stroke being how Burns somehow managed to get an edge as it looped overhead.

Labuschagne then came and went, scoring at a run a ball before falling lbw for the third time in four innings.

This time, he missed an attempted sweep against off-spinner Bosisto rather than being pinned on his stumps by seamers, as was the case in the previous pair of dismissals.

But the fact Labuschagne averaged more than 100 in his 11 first-class innings before entering his current lean spell means that he – like Head, who scored centuries in each of his two previous Shield games – holds no fears for being overlooked in the Test squad.

There was also due recognition today for Redbacks veteran Callum Ferguson who announced last week he would retire from first-class cricket at the end of this game, and was welcomed to the crease this afternoon by a guard of honour formed by his Queensland opponents.

Ferguson continues his final innings tomorrow on 27 not out having survived a searching 86 deliveries this afternoon, and will be partnered by keeper Harry Nielsen (40no) as the Redbacks eye a distant draw.

"He started really well today so it would be nice to see him bat for a long period tomorrow," SA captain Head said of his long-time teammate.

"I know he'll be desperate to put on another good performance, and those two batters (Ferguson and Nielsen) tonight showed the way that it can be done, and hopefully tomorrow we can put another couple of hours into them and, session by session, grind them (Queensland) down."

Bulls skipper Usman Khawaja likely had his eye more closely fixed on approaching thunderstorms than on history when he called an end to Queensland's second innings during today's lunch break.

But there was a certain symmetry to Queensland setting their rivals such a seemingly fanciful fourth-innings target.

Only three times in the Shield competition's 128-year history have teams successfully chased targets of 448 or more to win a game.

The most recent was seven seasons ago when Queensland reached their target of 471 for the loss of just five wickets at the Gabba, led by an unbeaten 182 from Khawaja to defeat ... South Australia.

And the highest-ever successful fourth innings run chase was SA's remarkable 6-506 at the Adelaide Oval in the summer of 1991-92, powered by a 209-run opening stand between current Redbacks assistant coach Greg Blewett and ex-selection chair Andrew Hilditch – against Allan Border's Queensland.

The Redbacks' hopes of reprising that feat seemed remote on the strength of their first innings batting collapse yesterday, when they tumbled from 2-115 to 9-149 in less than 16 overs.

They survived a further 16 deliveries this morning before last man Lloyd Pope fell to Neser, although the young leg spinner's suggestion the ball had brushed his upper arm rather than bat or glove was corroborated by slow-motion replays.

Already holding a 342-run advantage on the first innings, Queensland opted to grant their bowlers brief respite from the oppressive heat and foul north wind while they pushed their advantage from comprehensive to insurmountable.

It also provided Burns and then Labuschagne with one final chance to post some red-ball runs before the first India Test that will played under lights at Adelaide Oval, using a ball of a different hue and nature.

As events transpired, neither batter took that chance and Head was unable to mount his third game-saving innings in as many matches.

But it was Neser's mastery of the red Kookaburra ball in conditions that more closely resembled tropical Brisbane than arid Adelaide that might have sent the day's strongest message to the selection panel.