Burns gives Qld control in 100th Shield

Scott Bailey | November 21, 2022

Joe Burns has celebrated his 100th Sheffield Shield match by helping Queensland take charge of their clash with South Australia in Adelaide.

After Harry Neilsen saved South Australia from a horror start to recover to 240, Burns went to stumps on day two on 49no with Queensland 2-88 in reply.

The right-hander looked in complete control on a difficult Adelaide Oval wicket, batting through an extended final session of a day regularly interrupted by rain.

Without a substantial score in Queensland’s past three games, Burns played nicely all around the ground in a crucial last three hours of play.

It came as he and Bryce Street put on 52 for the first wicket, before Thomas Kelly took one of the catches of the summer to remove Sam Truloff late.

After Truloff went back to Nathan McAndrew, Kelly reacted by diving to his left and taking the ball one handed to send the right-hander on his way for 15.

Earlier, Queensland quick Xavier Bartlett had continued his final start to the match when he had Nielsen caught behind for 90 in the key wicket of the Redbacks’ innings.

After Bartlett took three wickets early on day one to leave the hosts 5-25, Nielsen was the man to stand up and lead the fightback for South Australia.

Nielsen combined for 60-run stands with Ben Manenti (33) and McAndrew (46no) for the seventh and eighth wickets, before edging off to Bartlett just after lunch on Monday.

Bartlett’s effort came with Queensland missing Mark Steketee and Michael Neser to Prime Minister’s XI duties, with both teams also without their Australian Test and one-day stars.

“With the likes of Nes and Stek out, it was nice to chip in and get a few early ones for the boys,” Bartlett said after his 4-64.

“A theme for us bowling first this year, the new ball has been really crucial.

“There’s still a lot of time in this game and a lot of work to be done for us, but we’re in a good position now.”

South Australia are without a win after four rounds of the Shield, while Queensland sit second with two wins, a draw and a loss.