Central Districts bowler Brent Hefford produced a fine spell of bowling this morning to break through the Queensland Academy of Sport batting and bring the New Zealand Academy side back into the picture at Bert Sutcliffe Oval at Lincoln University.

Going into the second day in the strong position of 267/4, Hefford found bowling into the stiff north-east wind no problem at all as he extracted leg before wicket decisions from the umpires against Allan Rowe and Craig Philipson. Soon after they departed he had another lbw decision when Scott O'Leary was caught in front to leave Queensland 290/7.

Hefford completed a superb spell of seven overs by getting the edge of left-hander Chris Hartley's bat. While finishing with five for 56 from his 25 overs, his spell this morning produced four wickets for 13 runs from his seven overs.

Resistance was led by Boyd Williams who hit out hard but Craig Pryor induced a leading edge from Damien Mackenzie which was held by Chris Harris at cover and the innings was completed on 319 when Taraia Robin claimed his fourth wicket for 62 runs off 18.1 overs.

It capped off an outstanding fightback by the New Zealanders as the last nine Queensland wickets fell for 95 runs.

Brendon McCullum gave the home team a rollicking start and after five overs, 43 runs had been scored. Thirty-seven of them to McCullum off 19 balls.

The 50-run partnership with Jamie How took 36 balls but Mackenzie struck for Queensland by trapping How leg before wicket.

At lunch the total was 66/1 off 11 overs, with McCullum on 47 off 34 balls.

After the break McCullum brought up his half century in 49 minutes off 40 balls.

A 66-run second wicket partnership was broken when Jonathan McNamee edged Mackenzie to wicket-keeper Hartley. During his patient innings McNamee showed glimpses of a return to form after inconsistent performances over a prolonged period.

McCullum finally departed six runs short of his century when he edged to Hartley, attempting to run the ball to third man off right-arm pace bowler Mark George.

He hit 12 fours in his 102-ball innings which was riddled with flashing shots intermingled with resolute defence.

While George was bowling to Nick Horsley there were six fielders between the wicket-keeper and point, with only one in front of the wicket.

At tea the total was 174/3 off 47 overs.

Horsley finally succumbed to the prolonged short-pitched attack outside off stump to be caught in the gully off the energetic George.

The flamboyant Harris showed his intentions by attacking the bowling for a brief period before being caught at short mid off from off-spinner O'Leary.

Two balls later Shanan Stewart played the ball on from George to see the total stumble to 210/6 off 57 overs. The great start to the innings was being squandered. Stewart, just missing his half-century, had weathered the early storm and was beginning to assert himself while George was rewarded for his sustained aggression claiming his third wicket.

Reece Young misjudged a sweep off O'Leary to be lbw when he appeared set for a sizeable contribution.

Pryor and Luke Woodcock mounted a lower order recovery and saw the 250 up in 265 minutes. While Pryor mixed caution with aggression, Woodcock was satisfied to defend resolutely and to rotate the strike.

By stumps, the New Zealand Academy had reached 274/7, leaving the game interestingly poised with two days remaining. Pryor was on 30 and Woodcock 12.

Too many of the NZCA batsmen failed to convert their starts into sizeable scores, failing to capitalise on the positive start from the top order.

The QAS fielding effort was far from error free with at least three catches grassed and sloppy ground fielding being too prevalent.

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