Maher, Law lead charge of the Bulls
Against a disappointing Western Australian attack, titleholder Queensland has made an excellent opening to the defence of its Pura Cup crown with a fine batting performance on day one of the match between the teams at the WACA ground in Perth. Buoyed by fine innings from Jimmy Maher, Stuart Law and Matthew Hayden, the Bulls have completed the first-class season’s opening day at the imposing scoreline of 2/283.Having shared the last four domestic first-class titles between them, both states entered this season with high hopes of success. But, for much of the day, this was a one-sided contest. The Western Australians encountered problems from early in the piece – fast bowlers Brad Williams and Brendon Julian were late withdrawals due to injury and, in a testament to the sheer quality of the competition, they could not find room in their eleven for returning Zimbabwe Test and One-Day International player Murray Goodwin – and they never recovered.It was Maher (132*) who offered the central contribution to the Warriors’ grisly predicament. The busy left hander was relaxed, authoritative and in command; the end result, perhaps inevitably in such circumstances, was the seventh first-class century of his career. Against some accurate new ball bowling from Jo Angel and Sean Cary, his innings began slowly. He was also a touch fortunate to survive at 39, when a cracking cut stroke was grassed by Justin Langer at gully off Angel’s bowling, and then again at 90, when Simon Katich dropped an incoming throw to the bowler’s end with the scrambling Queenslander still well short of his ground. But the rest of the day offered a showcase to his ability to industriously nudge the ball into gaps on the leg side, to drive with power through the covers, and to play horizontal bat shots with rapidly growing confidence the further that his innings tend to progress.Adopting the no-nonsense strategy of playing straight and resisting the temptation of flinging his bat at the succession of wayward deliveries bowled to him throughout his near-on four hours at the crease, Law (86*) also enjoyed an excellent day. Having come to the crease only twenty minutes after lunch – when the loss of Martin Love (4) to a catch at slip off Angel provided some hope of a Western Australian fightback – his role in the day’s proceedings was crucial. He cajoled and he caressed the ball beautifully through the off side in particular and, in the midst of his unbroken partnership of 189 runs with Maher, looked a completely different batsman from the one who strangely struggled so badly for form through much of the last Australian season.Maher’s opening partner, Matthew Hayden (47), also contributed freely to a first wicket stand of 87 before being trapped lbw by an Angel delivery on the line of leg stump. In fairness, it should be said that all three benefited from the experience of plying their trade on a benign pitch on a warm, sunny day: conditions which made opposition captain Tom Moody’s decision to invite the visitors to bat first all the more surprising.The placid nature of the track and the call at the toss were, though, far from the most significant of Western Australia’s problems. Suspicions about the Warriors’ ability to capture twenty opposition wickets on a consistent basis have been raised more than once in the lead-up to the season and, notwithstanding the gravity of the loss from this attack of players of the quality of Williams and Julian, they did little to dispel those pessimistic assessments today. Gavin Swan (0/38) and Angel (2/57) both acquitted themselves well but received little support. On far too many occasions throughout the day, the ball was pitched on the wrong line and a considerable number of deliveries passed harmlessly wide of the stumps on both sides of the wicket. Other than for four overs of gentle spin from Katich, the attack was purely pace-based and its explicit lack of variation was yet another factor among many which worked in the Queenslanders’ favour.