Bulls Win A Thriller!

To continue a string of eye-catching domestic List A cricket over the past few days, Queensland had to rely on a final wicket stand of 73 between pace bowlers Gurinder Sandhu and Kane Richardson, who clinched the victory with a massive six down the ground to win.

The traditionally batter-friendly North Sydney Oval was a distant memory as both teams found scoring runs a battle as the Bulls and Blues bowling attacks ruled the roost.

Chasing 217, Queensland was wallowing at 9-146 and facing an ignominious end to the day before Sandhu and Richardson came together with 23 overs left and 72 runs to get.

The pair, who had bowled beautifully with the new ball after Queensland had won the toss bowled, took advantage of the healthy number of overs left in the day to stealthily begin their fightback.

Sandhu paid tribute to his experienced partner after the game.

“Thirty (runs) out, he said, ‘Let’s make sure we’re not changing what we’re doing if we do get closer.’’ Sandhu recalled.

“He’s been there a few times where he’s changed it up when he’s got closer, and it hasn’t worked.

“It’s obviously working, so let’s just keep doing that same thing.”

Richardson struck an equal career-best 36 off just 34 balls and Sandhu finished unbeaten 46, to go with the two-wickets he took with the ball in a man-of-the-match performance.

The duo hit 12 boundaries as their stand went past the competition's previous best final-wicket stand of 61.

It was Queensland’s first one-day win of the summer after losing its opening game and then having its second match washed out.

Remarkably, the Bulls gained a bonus point by getting the runs inside 40 overs and moved into third spot on the table.

Richardson, who moved with his family from Adelaide to live on the Gold Coast last year, was one of two uncontracted players in the Bulls line-up, with batsman Sam Heazlett (58) also having a crucial influence on the successful run chase.

The Queensland attack was led by ODI spinner Matthew Kuhnemann (2-39 from 10 overs) while left-arm pace inclusion Liam Guthrie did a fine job to collect 3-58 from 9.1 overs.

Sandhu (2-20 from seven overs) and Richardson (1-28 from eight overs) were excellent up front while allrounder Jack Wildermuth bounced back from some harsh treatment early to finish with 2-50 from nine overs.