Rob Forsaith at the Gabba
Queensland's hopes of hosting the Sheffield Shield final have been essentially extinguished, but the Bulls will enter next week's decider against Victoria with a serious dose of confidence after reducing Western Australia to a remarkable score of 6-44 at lunch on day three at the Gabba.
Queensland's slim chances of snaffling hosting rights for next week's decider rested with Tasmania being able to scratch a draw with the Bushrangers in Melbourne, something that is practically impossible with the Tigers 6-30 at lunch and needing a further 130 runs to make the Vics bat again.
However the Bulls will make the trip to MCG knowing they are fully capable of performing miracles with the ball, after some sensational bowling had the Warriors still 62 runs shy of a victory that would lift them off the foot of the table.
After restricting South Australia and Victoria to lowly totals of 72 and 104 respectively in the last two matches, Queensland delivered yet another remarkable showing with the leather to be in with a shot of what would be a history-making win over the visitors.
WA captain Marcus North opted to enforce the follow-on early on day two when his side enjoyed a 180-run lead after rolling the Bulls for 106 in their first innings.
Never in 84 seasons of Shield cricket has Queensland been able to snatch an outright victory after being asked to bat again, but that could well change with WA making a terrible mess of its pursuit of the 106 runs required for victory.
Chris Swan (3-22) and Ben Cutting (3-22) ripped the heart out of the Warriors' top order in a frenetic 68 minutes of cricket that started with the visitors slumping to 3-1 in the space of 13 balls.
Swan commenced the carnage in the first over when he trapped Wes Robinson LBW for a duck, and was on a hat-trick the next over when North was out edging for a golden duck.
The swing specialist almost had his milestone when a gutsy drive from Luke Pomersbach saw a thick edge fly in-between fourth slip and gully.
Pomersbach looked to finish things in a hurry and while his score of 19 remains the visitors' highest, the aggressive left-hander's natural game proved to be his undoing.
The 25-year-old charged a short ball from Swan, only for a thick edge to land in the outstretched hands of 19-year-old Chris Lynn who sprinted in from backward point and held onto a very difficult catch.
Matt Johnston, who earlier came out at No.5 but was sent back to the dressing rooms by the umpires due to the fact he had spent the last 18 minutes of Queensland's innings off the field, then became Cutting's second victim and the third WA duck.
Michael Swart (six) was out edging after offering some resistance, leaving unbeaten batsmen Luke Ronchi (11) and Nathan Coulter-Nile (three) with a difficult task at the meal break.
Earlier, Lynn's maiden century gave the home side the faintest sniff of what would be a remarkable upset, but the Warriors needed just one hour to race through the lower order after the Bulls resumed on Friday at 6-209.
It could have been over a lot quicker had Liam Davis not grassed what was a straightforward catch at cover in the second over.
After Cutting (20) fell in the opening over of the day, Lynn had added