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Poor weather, rather than bad decision-making, led to the Shield game between Queensland and South Australia being abandoned without play, an official says.
Queensland Cricket insists it was bad weather rather than bad management that wiped out another Sheffield Shield match in Brisbane.
Hosting rights for the Shield final will now come down to the last round match between Queensland and NSW after no play was possible in the four-day clash between the Bulls and South Australia at Ian Healy Oval.
The washout followed Queensland's previous Shield match, against Victoria, which saw just 76 overs of play because of the weather.
While rain was particularly heavy on day one of the Redbacks' clash, there were three days of fine weather - but the oval could not drain sufficiently.
The match had initially been slated to be played at Ian Healy Oval but was moved to Allan Border Field - only to be moved again after the latter also failed to drain enough during the Victoria fixture.
Queensland Cricket CEO Terry Svenson maintained ground staff had done their best but a fortnight of rain and bad weather had taken its toll.
"We took the decision to keep the game at Ian Healy Oval in the anticipation that it would potentially be fit for play earlier than if we had scheduled the match for Allan Border Field," he said.
"As it was, both venues received a significant amount of rain earlier this week, on top of being already rain-affected last week.
"The ground staff at both venues have done their utmost to get some play in and we are hopeful that Sunday's Marsh One Day Cup game at Allan Border Field will proceed as planned."
With the Brisbane Lions now using the Gabba for AFL, and given the elongated domestic cricket calendar, there are limited options for first-class cricket in the Queensland capital.
The Bulls (30 points) seemed primed to already have hosting rights locked away for the decider but the inability to accumulate significant points in the last few weeks has them just a point ahead of the Blues.
