Blues clinch Pura Cup thriller by one wicket

New South Wales 188 & 9 for 183 (Haddin 41) beat Queensland 102 & 268 (Love 116, Nicholson 5-60) by 1 wicket
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details

New South Wales clinched the Pura Cup with a thrilling one-wicket win against Queensland at Brisbane. Requiring 183 for victory in the fourth innings, New South Wales seemed to be cruising at 4 for 158. However, three wickets fell at that score, and then two more at 161, before Nathan Bracken and Stuart MacGill put together 22 for the last wicket to see the Blues home. It was Queensland's third successive defeat in a Pura Cup final.

Earlier, a splendid 116 by Martin Love lifted the Bulls to 268 in their second innings. Love's knock came off 269 balls and included 19 fours, and was easily the stand-out effort in an innings in which the second-highest score was Shane Watson's 39. Matthew Nicholson was the star bowler for the Blues, dismissing Love and then wrapping up the tail to finish with 5 for 60.

The Blues lost wickets regularly in the run-chase, but Brad Haddin, who had made an unbeaten 68 in the first innings, followed it up with an aggressive run-a-ball 41 to put his team on the brink of victory, before Queensland fought back. Joe Dawes and Andy Bichel took five wickets for just three runs to swing the match Queensland's way, before MacGill joined Bracken. Queensland had a final chance to snatch victory, but Wade Seccombe, the wicketkeeper, dropped a difficult chance from Bracken with only two required for victory.

After the match, Jimmy Maher, the Bulls captain, was distraught, describing the defeat as the "toughest moment in his career". "Everyone's pretty emotional and pretty upset," Maher said. "It's like someone's ripped a great big piece out of your heart. This hurts more than anything. Anyone with any sort of a brain knows that we gave it all we had but it still feels like we let everyone down.

"Two points separated us all year and one wicket separated us in the last outing so, as I said before the game, it was the right final. Unfortunately we were on the wrong side of the ledger but full credit to them, they played well."

Haddin, meanwhile, indicated that the Blues had complete faith in the batting prowess of MacGill. "I knew there was a twist and he's spent a lot of time on his batting. If he gets through the first couple [of balls] he's got a very good eye and he usually does the job for us."