Queensland has recorded a remarkable outright victory over Tasmania in a thrilling finish to the teams' Pura Cup match at the Allan Border Field in Brisbane this afternoon. The four wicket triumph, achieved with just one over of play to spare on the final day, came when the Bulls spectacularly chased down a target of 372 from a possible seventy-two overs.

Key batsmen Martin Love (161*) and Andrew Symonds (133) were the heroes of the win, building and then thrashing their way to a 261 run partnership for the fourth wicket that transformed the game completely. The match had seemed destined for a draw for much of the final afternoon as the visitors, who had held all the aces from close to the outset of the match, failed to achieve the breakthroughs that they needed through the middle phase of the Queensland innings.

Even deep into the final day's play, thoughts of an outright success for either team seemed remote. But, in the twinkling of an eye, the clean-hitting duo launched a spectacular assault. With the pitch playing as truly as it had for the majority of the contest, they smashed eighty-five runs in the space of seven overs in the hour after tea to metaphorically bring the Tigers to their knees. Symonds' brutal strokeplay (which generated nineteen fours and two thumping sixes) and Love's languid yet sophisticated approach (which also brought nineteen boundaries and two sixes, although in slightly more measured style) represented the perfect combination in the circumstances. Theirs was quite a performance.

Much credit should go to the Tasmanians too, though. Captain Jamie Cox made an aggressively, but appropriately, timed declaration an hour into the final day's play and he maintained attacking fields - something which could not be said of his opponents - throughout. Although they looked largely powerless in their attempts either to break or contain the Love-Symonds association for long periods, the Tigers also gave the impression of a unit determined to play positive cricket this season. They still even retained a genuine hope of victory at different moments during the concluding stages of the match before the Bulls finally completed their monumental recovery by snatching away the six points.

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