Sean Abbott registers career-best figures in his comeback game to lead New South Wales to victory

Sean Abbott’s career-best figures of 6-14, in the second innings, helped New South Wales (NSW) register a thumping victory over Queensland in a Sheffield Shield match at the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) on Friday.

The 22-year-old could not have hoped for a better return to cricket after the freak incident involving Phillip Hughes. Hughes died a couple of weeks ago after being hit on his head by a bouncer from the fast bowler during a Shield game against South Australia at the same venue.

Batting first, Queensland were dismissed for 268 runs in the first innings. In reply, the home team, riding on centuries from Ryan Carters (198 off 432) and Kurtis Patterson (126 off 221), posted 447 runs on the board.

Trailing by 179 runs, Queensland were bundled out for just 99 runs in their second innings as Abbott ran through the middle order after Mitchell Starc, Doug Bollinger and William Somerville shared the first three wickets.

With a couple of wickets in the first innings, Abbott’s match figures read 8-76.

Match result: NSW won the match by an innings and 80 runs.