The Gold Coast Dolphins are on the verge of winning their first Queensland Premier Cricket title in 17 years courtesy of a record-breaking partnership between Hugo Burdon and Stephan Stephan at Allan Border Field over the weekend.
Facing Northern Suburbs in the red-ball final, the Dolphins were seemingly in early trouble at 2-1 after just three deliveries having been sent in, with opener Ashton Gumm and No. 3 Kyle Brazell both dismissed by seamer Sam Skelly for a golden duck.
However, Queensland representative Burdon and opener Muller combined for an absurd 629-run stand for the third wicket, the highest partnership in Australian premier cricket history, to embarrass their opponents. The previous club record was a 446-run partnership between the late Andrew Symonds and Matthew Mott in 1992.
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The duo batted for 163.4 overs across two days before Burdon was toppled by Skelly for 340, the second-highest individual score in Queensland Premier Cricket history, while Muller finished unbeaten on 272. The record remains Matthew Renshaw’s 345 for Toombul in 2018.
“At the end of day (one), when we were two for three hundred and something, I thought that’s a really good day,” Burdon said, as reported by The Courier Mail.
“But when they kept bowling with the old ball after the 80 overs and they didn’t take the second new ball I was like, ‘Yeah we’ve put them under a lot of pressure here,’ and they were scrambling a little bit.
“To do it again on day two, it was something special.”
Later on Sunday, Renshaw texted Burdon: “Commiserations.”
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Gold Coast, searching for their first red-ball title since 2008/09, eventually declared at 3-630 late on Sunday before paceman Sam Chapman picked up three quick wickets, with Northern Suburbs in strife at 3-36 at stumps, still trailing by 594 runs.
“It feels great, but obviously the job’s not done and we still need to win the game, so that’s obviously where all our heads are at as a team,” Burdon continued.
“The energy is definitely up but everyone knows with cricket, anything can happen so it’s important we prepare and do everything right this week but we’re in a great position.”
The four-day final continues on Saturday.
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