Josh Inglis has struck an ODI-style century to help Western Australia overcome some early carnage in their Sheffield Shield clash with Queensland at the WACA Ground.
WA ended day one at 7-319, with Inglis (122 off 117 balls) and Sam Whiteman (102 off 237 balls) combining for a chalk-and-cheese 203-run partnership.
It marked a brave fightback from the Warriors, who had slumped to 2-0 and 3-18 following an early onslaught from two-Test seamer Michael Neser (5-48 off 22 overs).
“The start we had wasn’t ideal, but it’s nice to build a partnership with Whitey, who played beautifully,” Inglis said.
“I love playing cricket for WA and I love playing here at the WACA, and I’ve had some great success over the last few years in Shield cricket.
“So any chance I can come back and play with the boys is really nice.”
WA opener Cameron Bancroft entered the Shield match knowing a big score would help further push his case for a long-awaited Test recall.
But the 31-year-old was out for a golden duck on the first ball of the day, edging a rampant Neser behind in what marked a perfect start to the season for Queensland.
Neser made it two wickets in two balls when Jayden Goodwin’s attempted leave went horribly wrong, with the ball cannoning off the 22-year-old’s gloves and into the stumps.
“It’s probably the best start I’ve had,” Neser said.
“One thing we talked about was making the most of the new ball.”
Mitch Marsh survived the hat-trick ball on the green-tinged wicket, but it wasn’t long until the star allrounder became Neser’s third victim with an edge to fourth slip.
There was an amusing moment during the middle session when the ball landed in the WACA construction zone after Hilton Cartwright struck spinner Mitchell Swepson for six.
Matt Renshaw stood on an esky in a bid to attract the attention of the construction workers, with one worker initially reluctant to move from his position.
Three other workers finally launched a search party, and they received a big cheer when the ball was finally found.
But just four balls later Cartwright (38 off 101 balls) was sent packing after striking the ball onto his pads and into the stumps.
At 4-77, WA were in need of a big boost, and it was Inglis who provided it.
Fresh from his stint with the Australian ODI side, Inglis struck 14 fours and two sixes on the way to reaching his century off just 93 balls.
And with Whiteman providing a rock-solid foundation at the other end, the pair combined to put WA into a solid position at 4-280.
Inglis fell late in the day when he edged a wide delivery from part-time spinner Matt Renshaw to the keeper.
A short time later, Neser found the edge of Whiteman before clean bowling Matt Kelly to snare his five-for amidst a WA collapse of 3-8.
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