Bulls' charge leaves Bushrangers lamenting

Half centuries to Matthew Hayden and Martin Love, together with a disastrous Victorian batting collapse, have helped Queensland assume control by the halfway mark of the Pura Cup match between the teams in Brisbane. At stumps on day two, the Bulls are placed at a score of 4/243 - one that leaves them just six runs shy of the Victorians' first innings tally with six wickets still in tact.

For the Victorians, the devil came in the detail of a debilitating batting collapse through the opening fifty-five minutes of the day's play. Having resumed at a healthy 4/229 when proceedings began, the Bushrangers surrendered their last six wickets for a mere twenty runs to be reduced, in the end, to the very disappointing total of 249. Pacemen Andy Bichel (4/69) and Adam Dale (3/50) were the chief destroyers, their ability to swing the ball in humid conditions proving too much for the succession of Victorian batsmen who were forced to shuffle their way to and from the pavilion. Wicketkeeper Wade Seccombe also indulged himself, ending with six catches following another fine innings of work behind the stumps.

The Bulls then compounded Victoria's agony by racing off in pursuit of first innings points at a scoring rate of close to four runs per over. With a polished hand, Hayden (81) went a long way toward parcelling up one of the opening spots for the First Test in Brisbane in a fortnight's time, while Love (51) continued on from where he had left off against Tasmania last week, again timing the ball beautifully to both sides of the wicket. And just for good measure, Andrew Symonds (38*) played another electrifying cameo to thoroughly reinforce Queensland's advantage before bad light intervened at the end of the day.

After their solid start to the match yesterday, the injury-riddled Victorians had headed into the day's play in a positive frame of mind. But they suffered from a lack of application with the bat, and an inability to restrict Hayden and Love in the course of their 122 run partnership for the second wicket. Pacemen Mathew Inness (2/47) and Michael Lewis (2/43) battled bravely, but there were few ways past the bat for the Bushrangers on a still placid pitch. Also hanging over the fielding team's head was the absence for much of the day of veteran gloveman Darren Berry, who left the field during the second session on account of a stomach virus.