Tigers’ last chance to grab some glory
FINISHING the shield season with a victory is within reach for Tasmania, but seamer Jackson Bird has declared executing team goals today will be the group’s main aim.
The Tigers will likely get a chance to end 2018-19 on a positive note with NSW — chasing maximum points to reach the final — needing to not only set an achievable target but give itself enough time to take 10 wickets.
The Blues resume on 5-149 at Blundstone Arena, holding an overall lead of 269 after veteran Trent Copeland (6-88) ran riot on day three, but lost talisman Moises Henriques in the shadows of stumps.
Bird, who captured his 50th wicket of the year when he had Nick Larkin caught behind, expects the visitors to come hard this morning to build their advantage as quickly as possible, and is imploring a weary attack to produce one more time.
“It would be nice to finish the season on a winning note but I think it is more important we finish the year playing the way we want to play and playing to the standards we set as a team and as a group,” Bird said.
“If we can do that tomorrow, we should win the game. That is the main thing.
“We bowled really well in the last session tonight, led by Gabe Bell, he probably hasn’t bowled the best he can over the last couple of weeks so it was good to see him… it was probably the best spell he has bowled all year.
“The game is evenly poised, it will be interesting to see how they go about it … it was good to get Moises out when we did at the end, they probably won’t be able to come as hard as they would have liked to if he was still batting.”
For the second straight match the Tigers coughed up a sizeable first innings lead with a sub-par batting display, as Copeland dented the top order before triggering a collapse of 5-23 after lunch.
Keeper Baxter Holt — debuting in place of Peter Nevill who remained in Sydney for the birth of his first child — cashed in on Copeland’s dominance by snaring the second most catches by a debutant (six), but after Larkin and Daniel Hughes again set a solid platform with an 81-run opening stand the hosts hit back.