Batting focus for Tassie in Shield season

The pressure is on Tasmania’s top order as the Tigers work to turn around their fortunes ahead of the Sheffield Shield season.

With a lineup of experience and young blood for Friday’s season opener against Western Australia in Perth, coach Dan Marsh hopes to see big scores on the board.

“Last year we were a bit disappointed with our batting and that’s been a big focus for us this year – that’s a big challenge for the batting group,” Marsh said.

He is happy to leave behind a “pretty patchy” performance in the one-day tournament in which Tasmania finished fourth.

But he said he found some confidence in his run scorers that he wants to see repeated in the four-day format.

With international George Bailey available to open against WA, vice-captain Xavier Doherty is confident of a strong start to the competition.

He admitted that last summer was a disappointment for the Tigers who finished fifth in the Sheffield Shield.

“We felt our shield season last year wasn’t what it should be and we’re keen to turn that around,” Doherty said.

“We were in the game for a lot of it, if not in front for a lot of the matches, but just at key areas we’d have a bad session or a bad couple of hours and the game would drift away from us.”

Within the past decade Tasmania has taken the shield title in 2006/07, 2010/11 and 2012/13.

On the back of his debut in the one-day competition – including a three-wicket haul against South Australia – young local Hamish Kingston has been named for the match against WA.

Marsh was particularly impressed by the fast bowler and said there is a good supply of keen players coming through the ranks.

A notable omission for the Tassie side is Victorian recruit Michael Hill who has been named as a major signing for the Tigers in 2014/15.

Hill made his debut for the Tigers in a one-day match against his former home state where he was caught for one and was out for a duck in a subsequent match against WA.

Tasmania line-up: George Bailey (capt), Ed Cowan, Xavier Doherty, Andrew Fekete, Evan Gulbis, Hamish Kingston, Dominic Michael, Tim Paine, Sam Rainbird, Jordan Silk, Timm van der Gugten, Beau, Webster, Jon Wells.

Stay up to date with the latest sports news
Follow our social accounts to get exclusive content and all the latest sporting news!