Queensland 172 & 195 for 8 (Peirson 82, Steketee 48*, O’Neill 3-21, Elliott 3-48) lead Victoria 123 (Harris 41, Bartlett 5-32) by 244 runs
On a day the place 15 wickets fell within the first two periods, Queensland went to stumps at 195 for 8 of their second innings and main by 244.
The 2-and-a-half-hour vigil between the pair was at full odds with the remainder of the day, and left the low-scoring match hanging barely in Queensland’s favour forward of Sunday’s play.
That set the tone for the following 4 hours of play, as Bartlett completed with 5 for 32 and rain hovered across the MCG for a part of the morning.
Solely Marcus Harris (42), Handscomb (24) and Tom Rogers (11) reached double figures for Victoria as they had been all out for 123 to concede a 49-run first-innings deficit.
Renshaw regarded in imperious kind for Queensland, driving within the air and punching the ball off his pads. However he too fell inside the primary 10 overs, caught down legside off O’Neill as Queensland’s batting started to falter.
Queensland then discovered themselves 67 for 7 simply earlier than tea, and a drought-breaking first win of the season in opposition to ladder-leaders Victoria was trying shaky.
Enter Peirson.
He and Steketee turned the one batter to look comfy all day, with the wicketkeeper-batter driving the Victoria quicks once they erred too full. Peirson additionally minimize and pulled effectively because the innings went on, and hit spinner Todd Murphy for 2 boundaries via the covers in a single over.
Steketee additionally did some harm, hitting 4 boundaries in his knock and sending Murphy deep over the long-on boundary.
And whereas Peirson was arrange by late by Mitch Perry and caught in a stacked legside discipline, he and Steketee had given Queensland the slight benefit.
