The Ashes preparation of Ryan Harris hit a hurdle with the Australian fast bowler unable to bowl for Queensland on Saturday because of a virus.
As the Bulls drew with South Australia in the Sheffield Shield match in Adelaide, Harris became the latest victim of an illness which crippled the Queenslanders.
Harris and five of his teammates were hampered by a stomach virus during the Glenelg Oval stalemate.
Harris perched himself at first slip for the duration of SA’s second innings, watching Bulls legspinner Cameron Boyce revive the match with a career-best seven-wicket haul.
Boyce took 7-68 and caused SA to stumble in a collapse of 8-61 which offered faint hope of an outright win to the Queenslanders.
The Redbacks ultimately finished at 9-194, a 116-runs lead, when time ran out for the Bulls, who banked first-innings points.
Test paceman Harris batted earlier on Saturday’s final day but didn’t bowl, unwilling to risk worsening his condition with the Ashes opener just 19 days away.
Bulls coach Stuart Law says Harris should be fit to play against Tasmania in the next Shield game, starting on Wednesday.
“If we cooked him today, he wouldn’t have been right for Wednesday,” Law said.
“And that would have been a disservice not just to him, but to us and Australian cricket.”
Law praised the efforts of his team who battled a stomach virus which forced captain James Hopes to be a late withdrawal and also impacted on Harris, Peter Forrest, Chris Hartley, Greg Moller and Ben Cutting.
“We still have a couple of guys on their death bed today, so to walk away with two points was a great result for us, unfortunately it detracted from the game of cricket,” he said.
SA captain Johan Botha described the match as a valuable lesson for his largely young team, given the nature of the crumbling final-day pitch.
“It was a real learning curve for us,” Botha said.
“If the guys want to play on Test cricket they will come up against a turning, fourth day wicket so it was a good experience for us.”
Only openers Michael Klinger (51) and Sam Raphael (40) prospered in SA’s second dig, putting on a 92-run stand and being the only batsmen to score more than 22.