BRISBANE, March 16: Australia Test captain Steve Waugh led New South Wales to a 246-run victory in the Australian first-class championship final against defending champions Queensland on Sunday.

The international quartet of Waugh (nine and 56), twin brother Mark (one and 38 plus four catches), Stuart MacGill (eight wickets) and Michael Slater (100 and 0) all played key roles in the victory which was achieved inside three days of the five-day final.

Queensland were attempting a fourth consecutive title and had home advantage at the Gabba in Brisbane but could only manage 84 and 215 after New South Wales were sent in and made 282 and 263 in a low-scoring match.

Steve Waugh and leg-spinner MacGill, both overlooked for the World Cup in southern Africa, are expected to be included in Australia’s squad on Monday for the four-Test tour of West Indies which starts later this month.

It was New South Wales’s 43rd Australian first-class championship title and first since 1993-94. They finished bottom of the six-team table last season and completed a remarkable return to prominence including victory in the interstate one-day final last month against Western Australia.

Former Test players Slater and Simon Katich (82) put on 191 for the second wicket for New South Wales on the first day’s play to help set up the win.

Test spinner MacGill took 5-16 and 3-43 for New South Wales and Steve Waugh compiled a gritty 56 in his side’s second innings to set Queensland a target of 462 to win.

“You try to pass on how the Australian team plays,” Waugh said on Sunday.

“It has been successful so why not try it at the state level? When you’ve got talented players why not go out there, back yourself, play aggressive cricket?”

Man-of-the-Match Katich contributed another 36 in the second innings before taking three Queensland wickets.

New South Wales had resumed on Sunday at 166 for four. They lost former international Mark Waugh for 38, wicket-keeper Brad Haddin for a first-ball duck and the captain in seven balls, all with the total on 193.

Tailenders Don Nash (22) and Stuart Clark (32) made Queensland’s target even more daunting before Lee Carseldine (65) became the only player for the home side to make a half-century in the match.

The game may have been the final time the 37-year-old Waugh twins played together. Mark retired from international cricket in October last year and has yet to announce if he will play domestic cricket again in 2003-04.

“We’ve played so much cricket together that even if it was the last game we played together, it wouldn’t be such a big deal,” Steve said.—Reuters