SA downs Bulls for first win since mid-November

ADELAIDE, Feb 6 AAP - South Australian cricketers were stretching to remember the words to their victory song today, after their first win since mid-November was completed in emphatic style.

The Redbacks beat top-placed Queensland by an innings and 125 runs inside three days in the Pura Cup match at Adelaide Oval.

After scoring 118 in reply to SA's 464 in the first innings and being forced to follow on, the Bulls were bowled out for 221 in their second dig today, breaking a run of five outright victories for the reigning Pura Cup champions.

It was SA's first win in either a one-day or first-class match since November 15-18, when it defeated NSW outright in Sydney.

"We have a team song, and we had to get the sheets out again," SA skipper Greg Blewett said.

"The guys are feeling really good, obviously, it was a perfect three days for us, it's been a tough month or so, so the boys are over the moon."

Three recent Redbacks debutants - pacemen Shaun Tait and Mark Cleary, and batsman Mark Cosgrove - had never played in a winning state side.

The victory also gave SA a rough chance of scraping into the Cup final, pulling it to within six points of second-placed Victoria, pending the result of the Bushrangers' match against NSW.

SA's two remaining matches are both against bottom-placed Tasmania and Blewett said with his team's confidence up it was still in the race.

"You just never know," he said.

"We might get six points handed to us in Tassie if they produce another wicket like they have, we might not have to turn up," he said in reference to the match against Western Australian being abandoned in Hobart today.

All-rounders Brad Young and Mick Miller were jointly named man of the match after both made centuries in SA's innings, in a match-turning 222-run eighth-wicket partnership, the all-time first-class record for the state.

Their partnership was worth more than Queensland's total in either innings, prompting questions about the Bulls' batting frailty.

"We always felt that if we could get some early wickets we were a pretty good chance of knocking them over," Blewett said.

Not helping the Bulls was the fact that Stuart Law was unable to bat today with a wrist injury, which will also cause him to miss Saturday's ING Cup match against SA.

Bulls skipper Martin Love said his batsmen, other than opener Clinton Perren, who made 94 today, showed poor concentration in both innings.

"We've got no excuses, we batted poorly, Clinton was the only one that looked like putting a substantial innings together," Love said.

"We've spoken about it, but we're going to move on, there's no point dwelling on it.