NSW thrash Bulls to set up home Marsh Cup final

NSW's departing stars have delivered the Blues hosting rights of the Marsh One-Day Cup final with a comprehensive eight-wicket win over Queensland at the North Sydney Oval on Wednesday.

Asked to bowl first, NSW's star-studded attack bowled out Queensland for 203 before comfortably reeling in the target with 100 balls to spare.

Daniel Hughes (101) and Steve Smith (86no) put on 174 for the second wicket to make light work of the run chase to ensure the Marsh Cup final will be played at Bankstown Oval on April 11.

But the Blues will be without their IPL players for the decider, with captain Pat Cummins, David Warner, Moises Henriques, Daniel Sams and Smith all heading to the subcontinent tomorrow

"To secure a home final, everything went to plan this season so far," Cummins said after play. "Four from four, and the way everyone played to day was exceptional.

"Some will be taking that form into the IPL and there's still a few guys who will be taking that form into the final."

However, the Blues will still have Hughes, the left-hander who scored his sixth one-day century for NSW and looked impenetrable against a quality Bulls attack.

The 34-year-old was strong on the front foot, driving handsomely down the ground and hitting 15 boundaries in his 100-ball stay at the crease.

Smith did what Smith does, picking gaps and dispatching bad balls, four of them over the rope as he finished the game in the 34th over.

The win means Cummins ends his first campaign as Blues one-day captain undefeated, boasting four wins and a washout this summer to give the national selectors plenty to ponder.

Cummins was the pick of the bowlers, picking up 3-34 while Mitch Starc claimed 3-46. Nathan Lyon took just one wicket but it was the big scalp of Marnus Labuschagne successfully caught and bowled having been hit for six the ball before.

Jimmy Peirson's fighting 59 meant the Bulls made it beyond 200 but on the small North Sydney Oval against NSW powerful batting unit it was perhaps 100 runs short, as former Australia batter Mark Waugh suggested on commentary.

Now the Bulls will now have a nervous wait to see if they are to make the final, with Western Australia and Tasmania a chance to leapfrog Usman Khawaja's team at the WACA Ground on April 8.

Western Australia would likely need a big win or a bonus point to dislodge the Bulls, while Tasmania would need a bonus-point win at the minimum to qualify.

"Very disappointing tonight but we also had an opportunity three days ago to get a double bonus point to make it impossible for us to miss the final," Labuschagne said.

"Those two things combined makes it very frustrating that we're now in a situation where it's out of our hands.

"But that's the game we play, we play cricket and it's full of unknowns and we weren't good enough tonight against a very classy NSW outfit."

NSW XI: David Warner, Daniel Hughes, Steve Smith, Moises Henriques, Kurtis Patterson, Matthew Gilkes (wk), Daniel Sams, Pat Cummins (c), Mitchell Starc, Nathan Lyon, Josh Hazlewood

Queensland XI: Usman Khawaja (c), Max Bryant, Marnus Labuschagne, Matthew Renshaw, Joe Burns, Jimmy Peirson (wk), James Bazley, Michael Neser, Xavier Bartlett, Matt Kuhnemann, Billy Stanlake