TIGERS GO FOR GLORY
from Wednesday, sitting 0.18 of a point ahead of the visitors in the race for second.
With Queensland 8.58 points clear on top of the table and certain to host the shield final at the Gabba, Tasmania does not need an outright victory to deny Victoria a chance at a record fourth straight title.
Teams earn 0.1 of a point for every wicket taken and 0.01 per every run scored after 200 in the first 100 overs of each first innings.
However Tigers coach Adam Griffith has declared the side won’t deviate from the plans that have produced four outright wins in 2017-18 — more than the state managed in the past two seasons combined.
“We are going in there to win the game, that’s how we have focused our whole season,” Griffith said.
“We don’t talk bonus points at all when we are preparing for games, the way we want to bat, if we wanted to chase bonus points we would probably be a bit more aggressive in the way we play. SECURING more bonus points than Victoria will see Tasmania feature in its first Sheffield Shield final in five seasons, but the side remains focused on landing a knockout punch to the three-time defending champion.
The Tigers host the Bushrangers at Blundstone Arena
“But the way we set up our top order and middle order, and the way we want them to play, is to take the game deep and have wickets in hand and be able to score at the back end of our innings.
“Unfortunately sometimes that is after the 100 overs. We don’t want to upset what we are doing to win the game to chase bonus points, we would just rather win the game and make sure we are in that way.”
The Tigers named a 14-man squad, including Ben McDermott and Hamish Kingston to the 12 that defeated South Australia in a thriller last week.
McDermott produced a matchwinning 96 not out for Lindisfarne on Saturday to lift the Lightning into the CTPL finals, adding to the 70 he scored in the Futures League last week and an unbeaten 75 against NSW at the SCG three weeks ago. But Griffith said it would be difficult to make changes to a winning unit, throwing his support behind opener Alex Doolan despite a lean patch since the Big Bash.
Doolan has just 86 runs at 14.3 since Christmas, and taking out his unbeaten 247 against Victoria has 214 at 15.3 for the season.
“Sometimes what gets lost is what the senior players and what some guys do around the group,” Griffith said. “Alex has been outstanding in and around the team, he has got through some really tough periods for us at the start of an innings. Even though he hasn’t got the runs he would have liked, he is definitely ticking a lot of boxes in other areas we are looking for with our batting group.”