Last-gasp Bulls foil Ferguson's fairytale finish

A heroic last-day bowling effort by Queensland quick Mark Steketee and a stunning late cameo from Mitchell Swepson have lifted their team to a last-gasp Marsh Sheffield Shield win over South Australia and robbed Callum Ferguson of a final career highlight in the process.

Steketee trapped Ferguson lbw just three runs short of a poignant century in the Redbacks veteran's farewell first-class appearance, and then spearheaded the Bulls' victory push with a fiery last-session spell.

The 26-year-old returned the remarkable figures of 4-43 from 28 overs to open the door for a Queensland win either side of tea, before leg spinner Swepson ripped through SA's last three wickets in 11 balls to hand his team a 62-run with a handful of overs remaining in the match.

It's the second time in three Shield outings that the Bulls have snatched a last-gasp win on the final evening after grabbing victory from Tasmania in the dying minutes of the opening round.

Having removed Ferguson and SA's other batting mainstay Harry Nielsen (114) midway through the day, Steketee returned in the late afternoon to land a series of crunching blows, the most crucial of which was probably the one that clattered teenage allrounder Liam Scott's helmet.

Scott loomed as the Redbacks best hopes of saving yet another match having played a vital part in their previous last-day draws against Tasmania and Victoria.

But having batted more than two hours to score 28, Scott was felled by vicious bouncer from Steketee that hit the 19-year-old flush on the head and snapped the stem guards from the base of his helmet.

After passing a mandatory concussion test, a clearly rattled Scott allowed the next delivery to pass and it slammed into his stumps.

That meant the Redbacks tailenders were charged with surviving almost 23 overs to steal another draw, with the victory target of 448 a pipe dream at almost 100 runs in the distance.

Chadd Sayers (46) briefly raised hopes of a hat-trick of draws by fashioning a stubborn eight-wicket stand with Daniel Worrall, but when Swepson had Sayers caught at second slip by Marnus Labuschagne – and with Queensland fielders crowded around the bat – the end came quickly.

Which was in contrast to the preceding five hours.

Despite dominating the game for all but the opening half-hour, Queensland entered the final day knowing they faced a battle to prise out the final six wickets of a batting line-up that has shown its strength to be grim defiance.

Bulls seamer Michael Neser revealed on Monday evening the Glenelg pitch had flattened out, and despite exhibiting regular puffs of dust with deliveries from both quicks and spinners, his assessment proved spot on.

Resuming at 4-138, still a distant 310 in arrears, it seemed likely SA's best hope for celebration might be a final hurrah from Ferguson who had compiled a patient, unbeaten 27 from 86 balls on day three.

But not only was batting comfortable amid bright sunshine after a pyrotechnic night of electrical storms, Ferguson and partner Nielsen batted throughout the morning session to raise faint hopes of an unlikely Redbacks win.

Shortly before lunch, Nielsen – who had been outpacing his senior partner since they joined forces – reached his second Shield century with a boundary behind point from Neser's bowling.

An elegant stroke-maker as well as a neat gloveman, Nielsen's previous Shield hundred came in his maiden innings against Victoria three summers ago, although he also posted an unbeaten 86 in a successful run chase against Tasmania a year ago when playing as a specialist batter.

The duo carried SA's score to 4-260 at lunch, still 188 runs adrift, but the Bulls emerged from the meal break with renewed purpose and greater potency.

Neser and Mark Steketee began getting the ball to swing, and Ferguson took on the scoring role as Nielsen became becalmed.

In his 235th – and ultimate – Shield innings, Ferguson closed in on a fairytale finish, overtaking legendary former SA skipper Les Favell's Shield runs tally (8269) to sit fourth on the Redbacks’ all-time runs scorers list behind Darren Lehmann (11,622), Greg Blewett (9682) and David Hookes (9364).

Watched by his family, including four-month-old daughter Layla, and with an avid Redbacks fan having spelled out a farewell message using 80 Redbacks jerseys on a grass bank at Glenelg Oval, the 35-year-old seemed destined for a final century.

Luck seemed to be with him when he edged Neser perilously close to keeper Jimmy Peirson's outstretched right glove on 84, and another edged drive past gully off Steketee carried him to 95.

But to the audible disbelief of the small crowd, fortune deserted the right-hander on 97 when Steketee got the ball to veer past the inside edge and into the knee-roll of Ferguson's pads in front of leg stump.

Having set off for a leg bye to temporarily escape the firing line, Ferguson threw back his head in anguish upon seeing the umpire's finger raised and the Queensland players swarmed around him, albeit in congratulations more so than celebration.

It was worthy recognition of a significant career, and players from both teams duly formed a guard of honour at day's end through which Ferguson exited the first-class field for a final time.

Only 16 cricketers have played more Sheffield Shield matches than Ferguson's 124, with former Test allrounder Peter Sleep (127) the only to have donned the red cap more often in the Shield competition.

And if the Bulls needed any additional context regarding Ferguson's contribution, he leaves the first-class game with more Shield runs than Matthew Hayden, as many Shield centuries than Allan Border and a better Shield average than Ian Healy.

Furthermore, he claimed more catches (73) than Sam Trimble and can claim twice as many Shield wickets (two) as Joe Burns.

Image Id: E8C26551522A445BA7F36383591CE02D Image Caption: Ferguson is giving a respectful farewell in Adelaide // Getty

From the time Ferguson departed, SA's thoughts of an improbable win shifted to the marginally more realistic notion of a third consecutive final-day draw.

But that became a more distant prospect six overs later when Nielsen was adjudged lbw to an in-swinging Steketee yorker, a decision that left the Redbacks keeper demonstrably unimpressed.

Nielsen appeared to indicate his belief the ball had hit his bat before crashing into his foot, and in tossing his blade frustratedly into the air as he walked off, it fell from his hands and he soccered it a metre or two across the turf.

It meant the job of pulling off a third salvage job in as many matches had been left to teenager Scott and a handful of specialist bowlers, and it proved an assignment too far.