Tom Cooper leads the charge as South Australia goes on the attack against Queensland
SOUTH Australia’s Tom Cooper cashes in on Callum Ferguson’s injury misfortune for his 11th first-class ton against Queensland in Adelaide as the Redbacks dominate against the Bulls.
SOUTH Australian batsman Tom Cooper had planned backyard mulching this weekend before upstaging Test aspirants with an 11th first-class ton that put Queensland to the sword in Adelaide.
Cooper (178) was dropped for returning Test No. 4 Travis Head but Callum Ferguson’s calf strain saw the veteran cash in on a reprieve batting at No.3.
The Redbacks were 4/382 in their first innings at stumps, leading by 151 runs with Jake Lehmann (76) and keeper-batsmen Harry Nielsen (5) at the crease.
“It is a funny game. It was a nice lot nicer here than shovelling mulch at home into the garden,” said Cooper, happy to transfer his backyard blitz to Adelaide Oval.
“That was what I was planning a couple of days ago. It has been an interesting week. It is always nice to be playing and to help get the team into a dominating position.”
Cooper was dismissed before stumps for his highest Adelaide score, gloving a Brendan Doggett (2/62) bouncer to keeper Jimmy Peirson after a 143-run, fourth-wicket stand with Lehmann.
Cooper, 31, forged his fourth ton against the Bulls with total freedom and supreme strokeplay across 22 boundaries and two sixes.
“It was unfortunate to get out at the end there but hopefully we can push on and really put them under the pump,” he said.
Lehmann, 26, is the first batsman in the Test frame this game destined to post a ton national coach Justin Langer is demanding for selection against India.
“Lehmo came out and batted beautifully, really taken the game away from them,” said Cooper.
Lehmann is a rare entity among young batsmen on Australia’s first-class landscape averaging 40 while targeting a seventh century on day three.
Lehmann averaged 50 in the JLT one-day competition and followed with match-saving knocks of 66 and 33 not out in sticky conditions against New South Wales here in the season opener.
Queensland’s 11-Test opener Matt Renshaw (3) and Test No. 6 Marnus Labuschagne (3) failed in the visitors’ 231 first innings. Former Test opener Joe Burns (64) was cut down by a Lloyd Pope wrong’un. Redbacks opener Jake Weatherald (69) fell short of a ton required to jump the Test selection queue but figured in a 107-run stand with Cooper.
Weatherald did the hard yards on a seaming strip over a 188-ball knock with Conor McInerney (24) and Cooper before edging Luke Feldman (1/55) to Peirson.
Weatherald is being watched closely by national selectors and benefited from intensive work on his forward defence with National Performance coach Chris Rogers in Brisbane this winter. The left-hander delivered a decisive BBL final ton against Hobart last February for Adelaide Strikers but tempered his swashbuckling ways in a bid for red-ball consistency.
Victoria opener Marcus Harris’ double ton against New South Wales in Melbourne has heated the race for Test spots.
“The openers did a great job to get us off. Conor was probably unlucky. Weathers batted really well,” Cooper said.
Leg-spin whiz Pope (7/87) became the youngest bowler to take seven wickets in a Sheffield Shield innings on day one but the Bulls were made to toil.
Cooper went after the rival leg-spin of Labuschagne (0/61) and Mitch Swepson (0/88).
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