Day5: Bulls slow things up before lifting their Cup
At the end of a thoroughly impressive season from its players, it is Queensland which has enjoyed the glorious distinction of lifting the 1999-2000 Pura Milk Cup at the Allan Border Field in Brisbane today. The Bulls' third such honour in the history of Australia's premier interstate competition, it came when the fifth and final day of a tame draw against Victoria in this season's ultimate match was called off at 3:30 pm on account of bad light and rain.
Of itself, the fifth day of the Pura Milk Cup Final did not feature any particularly spectacular cricket. It seemed relatively obvious indeed that this occasion was instead always likely to serve as something of an excuse for an extended act of celebration from the home team and its supporters. That was reflected as early as in the first hour of proceedings, during which time Adam Dale (42) and Scott Muller (20) afforded their opponents a diet of comfortably executed shots to the acclamation of a crowd revelling in the sight of lower order players batting so obdurately.
The Queensland tail indeed definitively killed the match this morning, extending its team's second innings score to 343 (and its overall advantage to a massive 446 runs) before the last wicket finally tumbled on the stroke of lunch. It was a period during which each of the last four batsmen decisively extinguished even the most vague prospect that their opponents may still have been able to claim the outright victory that they needed to clinch the title. Aggressive fields were set by the Victorians, and a reasonably accurate line and length was maintained, but consistent success was simply not forthcoming. Moreover, the first two wickets which fell were as much attributable to errors by the batsmen concerned as to great bowling in itself: Andy Bichel (8) was out when he dragged a wide David Saker (2/84) delivery back into his stumps off a bottom edge and Dale was dismissed when he went too far back to a Paul Reiffel (4/65) ball and dislodged his leg bail with his back foot. That Muller looked very unlucky to be adjudged lbw by Umpire Darrell Hair to a Matthew Mott (3/35) delivery which seemed to be swinging well down the leg side only heightened this suspicion.
When an essentially meaningless Victorian second innings began, Queensland's pace bowlers made another impressive start with a surfeit of maidens and the quick wicket of Jason Arnberger (9) to an outside edge at a Dale (1/20) outswinger. But from there, both sides merely went through the motions before the curtain was finally brought down on the match and this very long 1999-2000 Australian season. That this descended by means of the intervention of bad light a little more than an hour beyond lunch (with the score at 1/31 for the record) said much about the sense of anticlimax that pervaded today's play. There was time enough for Matthew Elliott (14*) to issue one or two powerful blows, and for Wade Seccombe to equal Rodney Marsh's record for the most number of dismissals (67) effected by a wicketkeeper in an Australian first class season. Otherwise, it represented little other than an exercise in marking time until the advent of the inevitable.
For their part, the Victorians will probably be keen at the end of this match to trace the origins of their demise back to a cruel piece of fortune late on the first day when Umpire Steve Davis controversially failed to uphold what appeared to be a conclusive caught behind appeal against Stuart Law at a crucial stage of Queensland's first innings. But, in truth, they were outplayed for long periods and their batsmen, in particular, failed to give of their best when it was required. As he has done all season long, Reiffel bowled with immaculate accuracy and control. There was simply never enough in the way of support, however, through these last five days of a season in which the team as a whole had hitherto generally acquitted itself extremely well.
From start to finish indeed, this was unambiguously the Bulls' day following a match and a season in which they had always been the standout team. Despite the poor quality of the weather, there was yet more controlled play from them, there was genuine emotion and, best of all, there was a glittering new trophy to crown their efforts. Throughout, there was additionally a real sense of vibrancy among a crowd which, even if smaller than expected, emitted enough noise to encourage one to assume that many more than 1654 were in attendance. Excitedly, its members chattered, chanted, laughed and cheered for virtually the entirety of the day, even though they did not always do so in specific reference to the events occurring before them on the field of play.
Of course, it was understandable on a momentous day like this one that their focus should have extended beyond such comparatively limited horizons. Perhaps indeed at times they were reflecting upon the batting of man of the match Law (129 & 84) and Martin Love (32 & 100), the bowling of Bichel (6/47), and the telling impact of those three players' performances in this contest. Conceivably their attention was fixed upon the contributions that the likes of Michael Kasprowicz (with 49 wickets at 14.4 apiece), Dale (34 wickets at 20.1) and Andrew Symonds (448 runs from six matches at 64.0) had offered in the lead-up to the Final itself. Or perchance it was the remarkable collective effort which saw the Bulls record an astonishing eight outright victories from their ten preliminary games to which they were applying their thoughts. Then again, maybe they were merely contemplating what a fantastic season this has been in so many respects for Queensland cricket and for the fabulous team to which they devote their support.