Western Australia captain Marcus North was disappointed to not get any points in the Sheffield Shield game against Queensland on a tame pitch, but did see plenty he liked from his team.
WA was never in danger of losing the contest and appeared on track for first innings points after declaring at 9-406 just before tea on day two. But the lifeless pitch offered nothing for the bowlers and Queensland's batsmen got stuck in to make 458 and take the two points.
The pitch wasn't what either side was expecting and was in complete contrast to the lively and bouncy deck for Sunday's Ford Ranger Cup game. But to come away with nothing was disappointing for North.
"The positive I can take out of this game is that I thought we applied ourselves pretty well with the bat, got set in on a wicket that was slower than both teams anticipated, and that was a factor in the scoring rate," North said.
"Both teams realised that it wasn't going to be moving around so the slips were out of the equation and it was more about testing the patience of the batters. I thought we did well to post 400 and to bowl with the discipline we did over a day and a half in the field was excellent."
While disappointed with the draw and to miss out on the two points, North was full of praise for his bowlers who worked tremendously hard on the batter-friendly pitch over almost five full sessions.
Brett Dorey didn't bowl on the final day and finished with 2-54 off 24 overs, Noffke had 1-74 off 33, Magoffin had 2-71 off 26, Brad Knowles claimed 1-98 from 32, North picked up 2-82 from 36 and David Bandy snared 2-40 off 10.
"We all saw that the wicket didn't have a lot of pace or bounce about it, the ball wasn't swinging from day one and it's hard to bowl teams out quickly. We tried different things with different fields, plans and we were always searching for wickets, but couldn't get over the line," he said.
"Ideally you aren't going to want to play every game on a wicket like that and it's pretty hard to get a result on it, but we stuck at it well over four days. It's just a shame we couldn’t get a couple of points out of it."
WA's young openers Wes Robinson (10 and 67 not out) and Luke Towers (43 and 41) also showed encouraging signs to North, as did Shaun Marsh (70 and 20 not out) at No. 3.
"Our openers showed some good signs in the first innings, but it was important that after the frustration of being in the field for 150-plus overs that they came out and took advantage of the time left in the game to get some runs made me proud of them," he said.
"Shaun's played his best cricket for WA at No.3, we saw that a couple of seasons ago and saw it again here. He feels comfortable batting there, got 90-odd runs for the game and was only out once. It's good for him, he started well and hopefully he continues that form in India next week."
North and his team still take plenty of confidence over the week against the Bulls after winning Sunday's Ford Ranger Cup game, and he's looking forward to the return one-day game at the Gabba next Saturday. He's confident his team will get more results with continued strong performances.
"We got the points on Sunday, which was pleasing to start the season with a win and we've got to now prepare for the return one-day leg in Brisbane. We can take confidence out of having one over them already this season," he said.
"Even though we didn't get the two points, the way we bowled on a wicket that wasn't suited to bowlers was something that was very encouraging. If we do that most times around Australia we'll be on top of a lot of teams."