Eight-hundred runs were heaped for the loss of four wickets and the double-centurion Ben Dunk finished on the losing side as Queensland knocked Tasmania out of the domestic limited-overs tournament in an affair of gluttonous batting at North Sydney Oval.
The ground’s short boundaries combined with a pristine pitch and sunny day to create the perfect environment for run-making, leaving the bowlers with a thankless task. The Bulls captain James Hopes returned 10-0-38-0, the only figures not to cost at least seven per over. A more typical analysis was the 1 for 101 collected by Peter George.
Tasmania’s 1 for 398, built on an Australia domestic record opening stand of 277 between Dunk and Tim Paine, was swiftly made to look inadequate by Usman Khawaja and Chris Hartley, who added an even faster 280 to break the newly minted mark. Dunk’s 229 usurped David Warner’s 197 on the same ground in last year as the highest score ever made in an Australian domestic one-day match. It was also the third highest List A score of all time, bettered only by Ali Brown and Shikhar Dhawan.