MICHAEL Neser and Jack Wildermuth schooled New South Wales’ young batting line-up with a textbook opening-day bowling effort that put Queensland in a formidable position in the Marsh Sheffield Shield final. Neser (5-27 off 13.2 overs) and Wildermuth (4-21 off 16) took all but one of the NSW wickets to fall in an eventful start to the clash, with the visitors folding for just 143 on a slow, seaming surface. Bulls attack leader Neser dismissed three of the Blues’ four top-order players still yet to turn 22 in a mesmerising spell, capped off by a stunning Marnus Labuschagne catch. It was the right-armer’s first five-wicket haul of the Shield season and, with national selection chief Trevor Hohns watching on at Brisbane’s Allan Border Field, only enhanced his reputation as the country’s leading fast bowler without a Test cap. Captain Usman Khawaja raved about Jack Wildermuth on match eve and the all-rounder backed up the hype with a blistering second-session spell, taking 3-1 in 19 balls and was on a hat-trick after removing Mitchell Starc and Sean Abbott on the stroke of tea.
Labuschagne reeled in a stunning diving snare off a firmly-struck Josh Hazlewood drive to end the Blues innings on the lowest first-innings score in a Shield final since the last time these two sides met in the five-day decider in 2005.

Only stand-in skipper Kurtis Patterson, who scored 43 in a watchful 128-ball stay, having earlier won the toss and elected to bat, offered any extended resistance for the Blues.
With Bulls reaching 58-1 by stumps on Wednesday, it left the home side in a strong position as they look to claim the Shield silverware for the first time in three years.
Mitchell Starc delivered a fearsome spell in the final session and continued his running battle with opener Bryce Street, striking him on the chest with a vicious bouncer, but Joe Burns was the only victim of the hosts’ 25-over stint with the bat to end day one. Burns edged behind off Hazlewood for 20. Labuschagne, who was engaged in spirited discussions with Nathan Lyon for most of the final session, looked imperious in reaching 23 before the close of play and appears the danger man for NSW on day two. The Blues nearly lost a wicket before they had scored a run in a nervy start to the match; openers Daniel Hughes and Matthew Gilkes hesitated on a quick single, but Xavier Bartlett narrowly missed the striker’s end stumps.
The let-off cost NSW little, as Gilkes left one from Neser that clattered into his off-stump. Hughes and Patterson weathered testing spells from the relentless Bulls pace brigade, who sent down 33 consecutive dot balls and conceded just 15 runs during the opening hour.

Hughes offered a tough diving chance to keeper Jimmy Peirson on three but then was not so lucky on 19 when he edged behind again, and had to depart despite replays showing Wildermuth was millimetres away from overstepping for a no-ball. Jason Sangha came and went in a blaze of boundaries, cracking 20 from his first 18 balls before top-edging an ill-judged pull shot off Neser, before fellow young gun Jack Edwards nicked off to the same bowler for a duck. Of the four players in the Blues’ top seven aged 21 or under, Sangha was the only one to reach double digits. Patterson has had a lean Shield season with the bat but the former Test man batted with composure in a 128 knock and looked set to pass fifty for just the second time this summer before he joined the procession of Bulls to have edged behind. Abbott was promoted to bat at six having averaged 75 in the Shield this season and while he looked the part when he effortlessly pulled Bartlett for six, his departure on the stroke of stumps sealed a horror second session for Bulls. Abbott had survived a reprieve on 13 when he edged Bartlett to second slip, with replays this time showing a no-ball had in fact been bowled. It was the first time a batter has been recalled in that manner, with this final the first to be played under recently-introduced playing conditions introduced by Cricket Australia.