Queensland captain Usman Khawaja has criticised Tasmania's tactics of not making a "sporting declaration" in its second innings, before their Sheffield Shield match ended in a dull draw.
The Bulls and Tigers halted the match 30 minutes before tea on Sunday's fourth and final day at Adelaide's Karen Rolton Oval.
Khawaja declared the Bulls' first innings at 5-355 on day three, 145 runs in arrears of the Tigers' 6-500 (declared).
He expected the Tigers — who started day four 204 runs ahead — to accelerate their second innings and set a victory target.
Instead, the Tigers' Lawrence Neil-Smith crawled to one run from his first 50 deliveries on Sunday.
It was the slowest scoring rate in the Sheffield Shield in 25 years of any batter to have faced 50 balls.
Neil-Smith was 71 not out when the match ended.
His teammate Charlie Wakim scored just one run from his opening 47 deliveries. He was eventually dismissed for 3 (after 61 deliveries).
Khawaja said he was "a little bit disappointed" with the approach of the Tigers, who were 3-196 from 75 overs when the match was stopped.
"We declared, hoping they'd set us a chase, and then [we would] try to chase it," he said.
"It was always going to be hard to get lots of wickets on that [pitch], so it had to be a sporting declaration and get them to set us a total and us try to chase it down.
"That was the only way there was going to be any result.
Khawaja said the Tigers batted for too long in their first innings, which spanned 157 overs until tea on day two.
"They batted for a session too long … they could have pushed the game more on day two. [We were] expecting them to declare around lunch. That's when you normally declare," he said.
"But that was just their game plan. I guess they were happy to get first-innings points and that's what it was."
Tasmanian opener Tim Ward — who followed his first innings 144 with 81 in his second knock — confirmed his side's mindset entering the final day.
"We knew it was going to be tough to take 10 wickets and the decision was made just to go out there and keep batting and make sure we didn't lose this one," he said.
AAP/ABC
