Queensland 172 & 195 for 8 (Peirson 82, Steketee 48*, O’Neill 3-21, Elliott 3-48) lead Victoria 123 (Harris 41, Bartlett 5-32) by 244 runs
On a day where 15 wickets fell in the first two sessions, Queensland went to stumps at 195 for 8 in their second innings and leading by 244.
The two-and-a-half-hour vigil between the pair was at complete odds with the rest of the day, and left the low-scoring match hanging slightly in Queensland’s favour ahead of Sunday’s play.
That set the tone for the next four hours of play, as Bartlett finished with 5 for 32 and rain hovered around the MCG for part of the morning.
Only Marcus Harris (42), Handscomb (24) and Tom Rogers (11) reached double figures for Victoria as they were all out for 123 to concede a 49-run first-innings deficit.
Renshaw looked in imperious form for Queensland, driving in the air and punching the ball off his pads. But he too fell inside the first 10 overs, caught down legside off O’Neill as Queensland’s batting began to falter.
Queensland then found themselves 67 for 7 just before tea, and a drought-breaking first win of the season against ladder-leaders Victoria was looking shaky.
Enter Peirson.
He and Steketee became the only batter to look comfortable all day, with the wicketkeeper-batter driving the Victoria quicks when they erred too full. Peirson also cut and pulled well as the innings went on, and hit spinner Todd Murphy for two boundaries through the covers in one over.
Steketee also did some damage, hitting four boundaries in his knock and sending Murphy deep over the long-on boundary.
And while Peirson was set up by late by Mitch Perry and caught in a stacked legside field, he and Steketee had given Queensland the slight advantage.
