da gbg bet： BRISBANE – Queensland proved a pest for Western Australia tonight when itsent its arch-rival limping into next weekend’s one-day cricket final with aloss at the Gabba
AAP16-Feb-2001BRISBANE – Queensland proved a pest for Western Australia tonight when itsent its arch-rival limping into next weekend’s one-day cricket final with aloss at the Gabba.The Bulls – and the Warriors for that matter – had little to gain fromtonight’s contest but Queensland ignored the points table and cruised to a65-run win in their final preliminary match of the Mercantile Mutual Cup.With Martin Love (124) and Jimmy Maher (87) stoking the fire, the Bullssurged to 8-306 from their 50 overs before dismissing the Warriors for 241in the final over.The visitors were already assured of hosting next weekend’s final beforethey walked on to the Gabba but they will need a better showing at home todefend their title.They were down and virtually out in the second over after the dinner breakwhen Ryan Campbell (four) and Simon Katich (zero) fell within three balls.The small crowd then watched the Bulls end their disappointing season on asound note, defusing a century stand from Murray Goodwin (59) and MikeHussey (57) to record their third consecutive win.The Bulls batsmen had hoped to hit one of the eight sponsor’s signs aroundthe boundary to collect a $250,000 jackpot but they at least garnered someconfidence ahead of Sunday’s first-class match between the teams.Love’s innings could yet prove lucrative if it pushes the talentedright-hander closer to his first Australian touring berth.The Ashes trip in four months isn’t out of the question if Love continuesthe form which delivered his maiden domestic one-day century in front ofnational selector Trevor Hohns.The 26-year-old played a typically calm but effective innings, reapingplenty of runs from the pull shot he added to his artillery this season.His 174-run partnership with Maher laid the foundations for the Bulls,enabling Maher to pass a significant milestone.The colourful left-hander became just the fourth batsman to reach 2000 runsin Australian domestic cricket, moving to 2,035 runs behind Matthew Hayden(2,162), Darren Lehmann (2,130) and Dean Jones (2,122).The Bulls were well on the way to a big total when Maher was the secondbatsman out after skying a catch to Murray Goodwin from the bowling of BradHogg (1-54 from 10 overs).Kade Harvey (3-47 from 10) and Jo Angel (2-52 from nine) also chipped in butan expensive three-over stint from Brendon Julian (0-32) did nothing for theWarriors’ cause.The Warriors were even spared the venom of Australian all-rounder AndrewSymonds, who was pushed down the batting order in a mysterious reshuffle.Instead of coming in at 2-178 in the 29th over, Symonds was held back untilthe 43rd over with Queensland 4-254.He added just 10 runs in seven balls while Love completed his 129-ballknock.The Bulls were then well-served by returning paceman Joe Dawes (2-29 from10) and rookie off-spinner Nathan Hauritz (2-56 from 10) as the bowlersshared the wickets.