Tight finish looms after Labuschagne falls late at the MCG

Marnus Labuschagne was dismissed late on day two in Queensland's fiery Sheffield Shield clash with Victoria to set up a classic finish to this top-of-the-table contest at the MCG.

After 17 wickets fell on day one, nine wickets fell on day two as the Bulls finished the day at 6-173 in their second innings, leading by 178.

After receiving a send-off from Victorian quick Sam Elliott yesterday following his first innings dismissal, the Australian No.3 returned to the middle today determined to give Queensland the advantage in a fixture crucial to their hopes of making this season's Sheffield Shield final.

The Bulls' skipper made his way to 15 before he looked to have exchanged some words with the man who dismissed him on Thursday.

Labuschagne was then seen approaching Victorian captain Peter Handscomb at slip, before umpires intervened in a move that cooled down the situation in the middle.

Having made his way to 41, the Queensland captain misjudged a pull shot off David Moody (1-40), as Campbell Kellaway hung on to a high catch to dismiss the state's leading run-scorer in the competition this season.

Victoria started day two at 7-61 in reply to Queensland's first innings of 149, with their captain Handscomb and paceman Elliott in the middle.

The pair added a further 29 runs to Victoria's tally on Friday morning, taking their eighth-wicket partnership to 42, before Elliott was caught behind off the bowling of Tom Straker for 23.

Straker (3-43) could have had a fourth Victorian wicket, but Bulls wicketkeeper Jimmy Peirson dropped the opposition skipper on 45.

Hayden Kerr came into the attack and made a breakthrough for Queensland with the fifth ball of his first over on day two, removing Todd Murphy for 18.

Now the leading run-scorer in this season's competition, Handscomb hit Kerr down the ground for four to reach fifty for the fourth time in this edition of the Sheffield Shield.

Alongside Victoria No.11 Moody, the pair put on 24 runs for the last wicket to get the hosts to within five runs of Queensland's first innings total, before Handscomb was bowled by Kerr (3-29) for a vital 67.

The 20-game Australian Test player has now managed to score 498 runs across the 2025-2026 Sheffield Shield. Remarkably, Handscomb now averages 69 throughout his first innings knocks this season, but just 2.5 in his second innings digs.

After the top-of-the-table Victorians recovered from 7-48 to eventually be dismissed for 144, the Queensland openers survived one over before the lunch break to enter the major interval at 0-1, leading by six runs.

Having taken 4-43 in the first innings, Elliott (2-27) thought he had Khawaja caught behind for 7 when the score was 0-28.

The former Test opener survived Victoria's appeal and together with Hugo Burdon, the Bulls openers put together the highest partnership of the contest to date as Queensland reached fifty.

Fresh off a three-wicket haul yesterday, Moody brought a false shot out of the left-hander at 0-60, but the chance was dropped by Harry Dixon in the gully.

20 runs later, Dixon this time snaffled a sharp chance off an errant Hugo Burdon drive, as Fergus O'Neill found the breakthrough for Victoria with his first ball of a new spell.

The wicket broke an 80-run opening stand, as Burdon fell on 43 for the second time in as many days.

Labuschagne joined Khawaja at the crease, taking the Bulls to the tea break at 1-86.

In the second over after the interval, Mitchell Perry picked up his 24th wicket of the season with a searing delivery that caught the glove of Khawaja (36) and was taken by Blake Macdonald at first slip.

Wicketless in the first innings, Murphy (1-32) struck in his seventh over, drawing an edge from Hugh Weibgen (11) that carried to Handscomb at slip.

Back in the attack to start a new spell, Elliott made it two wickets in two overs for the hosts when Macdonald took another catch at first slip to dismiss Lachlan Hearne (5).

In his next over, the Victorian paceman took his sixth wicket for the match after Peirson (3) left a delivery that jagged back and rattled his stumps to leave the visitors 5-122.

Neser joined the Bulls captain and the two moved Queensland's total to 5-151, before a skied pull shot from Neser off Perry (1-40) was dropped by Victorian gloveman Sam Harper in the middle of the MCG.

Labuschagne was then dismissed 17 runs later, as the Bulls reached stumps with Neser (22*) and Kerr (1*).

Sheffield Shield 2025-26 standings

Team	Matches played M	Wins W	Losses L	Drawn D	No results N/R	Deductions Ded.	Batting Bonus Bat	Bowling Bonus Bowl	Total points PTS
1 Victoria Men VIC	10	7	2	1	0	0	8.56	9.3	60.86
2 South Australia Men SA	10	4	2	4	0	0	7.61	9.2	44.81
3 Queensland Bulls QLD	10	3	4	3	0	0	8.18	8.2	37.38
4 Tasmanian Tigers Men TAS	10	4	4	2	0	2	3.73	8.5	36.23
5 NSW Men NSW	10	2	4	4	0	0	6.94	8.6	31.54
6 Western Australia Men WA	10	1	5	4	0	0	2.95	9.2	22.15

Legend

M: Matches played

W: Wins

L: Losses

D: Drawn

N/R: No results

Ded.: Deductions

Bat: Batting Bonus

Bowl: Bowling Bonus

PTS: Total points