Tigers ripe for Bull hunt
THE absence of injured pacemen Jackson Bird and Riley Meredith, and IPL debutant Nathan Ellis, will not damage the Tasmanian Tigers chances of opening the Sheffield Shield season strongly against Queensland at Ian Healy Oval starting on Tuesday.
Tigers skipper Matthew Wade is confident the team can acquit itself well in the early rounds of the competition, despite also being without Test captain Tim Paine and key batter Jake Doran.
“It’s disappointing to lose ‘Birdy’, who’s had to fly home and rest his Achilles. That’s unfortunate after he’s put in a hell of a lot of work over the preseason,” Wade said.
“Riley is coming back from the injury he got playing for Australia, and it’s nice to see Ellis get his opportunity to play in the IPL.
“It’s an opportunity for other guys to come in. As we’ve seen over the past couple of years, if you are going to go deep into a Sheffield Shield season, you need to call on five, six, or seven bowlers at times.”
Peter Siddle will be the most experienced Tiger with the ball, while Sam Rainbird and Lawrence Neil-Smith make up the pace trio.
“Neil-Smith will take Jackson’s spot, and Rainbird has been really impressive in the preseason and we’re hoping he can push on from the way he finished last season,” Wade said. “We’ve obviously got Beau Webster and another spinner Jarrod Freeman, who played the last three or four games of last year as well and really changed the make-up of our team so we are really impressed with him as well.”
The Tigers arrived in Queensland last Tuesday and had three days of on the Gold Coast before relocating to Brisbane on Saturday, when they were joined by Wade.
“Our preparation has been good. With the marquee we’ve got at Bellerive, the boys have been on turf for a long time now,” Wade said.
Tigers: Matthew Wade (c), Gabe Bell, Jarrod Freeman, Caleb Jewell, Ben McDermott, Lawrence Neil-Smith, Sam Rainbird, Peter Siddle, Jordan Silk, Charlie Wakim, Tim Ward, Beau Webster, Macalister Wright.