Sheffield Shield final 2021: Queensland Bulls torch NSW to record historic win
The Queensland Bulls have annihilated NSW in the Sheffield Shield final and “superstar” Marnus Labuschagne will reap the spoils of victory.
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Marnus Labuschagne will return to England next week with a Sheffield Shield title, a six figure pay rise and a seasoned voice believing he has arrived as a batting superstar.
Queensland beat NSW by an innings and 33 runs for their ninth Shield title win at Allan Border Field on Sunday, an especially sweet win for the Bulls given they had failed to beat the Blues in six previous Shield finals.
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In a COVID-disrupted season reduced from 10 to eight fixture games Queensland proved themselves a tight, robust unit under coach Wade Seccombe and captain Usman Khawaja who declared “we love spending time with each other, so this is beautiful.’’
The final was again a powerful team effort but Labuschagne’s stunning 192 in which he barely hit a ball in the air was the sublime gold stud that so impressed rival off-spinner Nathan Lyon he urged his young teammates to study and learn from it as it happened.
“In my eyes he is a superstar already but he has the potential to be one of the greats,’’ Lyon said of Labuschagne after the duo became the first players in more than four decades to play all Tests and Sheffield Shield games in the one summer.
“This is the best I have seen him bat. He just loves the game. He will go home tonight and bat in his garage.’’
As Labuschagne prepares to return to English country Glamorgan, where his run rampage started, he is set to receive a significant promotion up Cricket Australia’s 20-man contract which will mean a handsome six-figure pay rise.
Blossoming leg-spinner Mitchell Swepson fittingly took three of the five NSW wickets to fall to finish a breakthrough summer with 32 wickets at 23 from just five games, behind only Lyon and Jackson Bird on the overall wicket-taker’s list.
The competition runs and wicket tables told the story of how Queensland were a solid team in every respect.
While having only Swepson among the Shield’s leading six wicket-takers the Bulls had five of the top 13 spots with Brendan Doggett, Xavier Bartlett, Jack Wildermuth and Michael Neser all chipping in when required.
The unstoppable Labuschagne (821 at 82) was the only Bull in the top 14 run-makers but Matt Renshaw, Khawaja and Jimmy Peirson appeared soon after to add the ballast.
“He has always had all the shots – the thing was he had to work it when to play them,’’ Khawaja said of Labuschagne.
“He understands the game and bowlers what they are trying to do. It is beautiful to watch.’’
“I honestly thought we were the best team this year.’’
The Bulls erupted in celebration when last man Josh Hazlewood edged Doggett for the final wicket.
As satisfying as the win was for the Bulls what happens on the back of it will matter even more for a group of former Test batsmen who would like another crack at the big time and a group of emerging bowlers keen to break into the international ranks.
DAY THREE REPORT
By Robert Craddock
It’s taken seven attempts spanning 36 years but the relentless Queensland Bulls are finally on track to beat NSW in a Sheffield Shield final.
Buoyed by a “next level’’ 192 by insatiable run machine Marnus Labuschagne then powered by lively pace pistons Xavier Bartlett (3-31) and Brendan Doggett (2-26), Queensland have reduced NSW to 5-140 in their second innings with two days to play.
Trailing by 246 on the first innings, the Blues (5-140) needing 106 to make Queensland bat again — and a knock for the ages by one of their middle order to set any sort of a defendable total.
Not even the temperamental fire alarm that accidentally triggered an order to evacuate Allan Border Field could halt the momentum of a Bulls team eager to notch its first Shield final win against the Blues.
Their six finals contests, including several knife-edged finishes which left Queensland players heartbroken, stretch all the way back to 1984-85 when the Pakistani pace great Imran Khan took nine wickets for NSW at the SCG.
The Blues tried to play positively in their second innings to force their way back into the match but once Daniel Hughes fell to a brilliant diving gully catch to Usman Khawaja, and Kurtis Patterson left soon after, the fire went out of the fight.
Queensland pace pressure has been relentless in this match, with assistant coach Andrew Bichel finishing the season in great physical shape after doing 10 push-ups for every maiden over bowled by his team throughout the season.
Impressive Bartlett, 22, playing just his ninth first class match, tried to hit the pitch as hard as he could and he was a constant menace.
Later he admitted that, had Mark Steketee not suffered a side strain, he probably would have missed out, heightening his satisfaction at his important haul.
“It was unbelievable to be out there in a Shield final – the adrenaline was really pumping,’’ Bartlett said.
Labuschagne’s 9½-hour innings, his fourth Sheffield Shield ton of the season, was a masterpiece of concentration and technical excellence, a knock few players in our snatch and grab world would have had the mental fibre to produce.
Never rushed or reckless in an innings spanning three days, he barely hit a ball in the air and let many a dangerous ball pass unchallenged. There were no flat spots or air-headed lapses.
His zest for batting is unquenchable. Even when he got out, steering an away seamer to Trent Copeland in the slips, he twice tapped his helmet with his bat as if to say “my error.’’
“To get out the way I did was very frustrating. I just tried to be too greedy and get that boundary through the gully,” Labuschagne told Fox Cricket.
“I am disappointed but we are still in a good position.
“That ovation was one of the best I have received — that was very special and one I will remember.
“Because Albion is on top of you, it feels as if the crowd is out there with you. I don’t think I have played an innings where I was so measured all the way through and I think that come down to mental maturity.’’
The daring reverse sweeps and flashing footwork he displayed against Test spinner Nathan Lyon – sometimes advancing three metres down the crease — was perfect practice for the three subcontinental tours Australia will play next year.
NSW, who had been heavily dominated on the first two days of the five-day decider, struck back early on day three as Queensland, resuming at 3-286, lost their final six wickets for just 38 but by then they had water streaming through every porthole as Queensland pocketed a 246 run first innings lead.
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