Bulls rally after Whitney scores career-high five points in debut

Tom Whitney had a brilliant day of cricket to lift Queensland.

Young speedster Tom Whitney wrote himself into Queensland’s Sheffield Shield record books before helping the Bulls return to action against South Australia.

Whitney made history on Monday by becoming the first Queenslander in 38 years to take five wickets on debut with her figures of 5-60.

And after the visitors scored 314 early on day two in Brisbane, Whitney made a late cameo with the bat to help the Bulls post 308 in reply.

South Australia then lost first-innings century maker Henry Hunt behind Michael Neser on the first ball of their second innings to lose 1–0.

But it was Whitney’s day as Queensland also benefited from Jimmy Pearson’s 94-bat counter at Allan Border Oval.

Reaching 9-271 at the end of the day, Whitney hit five boundaries en route to an unbeaten 24 off 11 balls to help Queensland move closer to par.

After taking three wickets on Sunday, Whitney caught Nathan McAndrew and Wes Agar early on Monday morning.

The wickets made the 21-year-old just the 12th Queenslander in history to make a five-wicket debut, and the first since former police officer Mick Polzin in 1986-87.

Neser also finished with 3-61, getting the key wicket of Hunt for 136 as the opener narrowly missed out on batting.

In response, Queensland’s big names struggled.

Test opener Usman Khawaja was lbw to McAndrew (3-55) for a duck and Queensland fell to 3-16 early with the ball swinging.

Matt Renshaw was also heavier than Jordan Buckingham (3-97) for two, hurting his slim chances of joining Khawaja at the top of the table for the first Test in Perth.

Marnus Labuschagne also failed to make any real impact, caught straight leg first and knocking the ball off his toes.

But with the score at 5-80, Queensland were able to mount something of a counterback.

Ben McDermott scored 52 and Neser (37) and Pearson combined for a 97-run seventh-wicket partnership.

However, Pearson forged ahead, hitting 14 boundaries in his knock and driving with ease when South Australia’s pace became too full.

The wicketkeeper’s bat looked set for his century before he hesitated for a second to come back with Mitchell Swepson (31) and was bowled by Jake Lehmann.