A flurry of late hitting from tailender Ben Cutting has rescued ladder leaders Queensland on a rain-affected day one of the Sheffield Shield match against Tasmania at Bellerive.

Cutting smashed 72 off just 74 balls – including four sixes – to single-handedly lift the Bulls from a disastrous 8-89 to a respectable 9-195 when play ended in bad light after his side were sent in on a green-top under cloudy skies.

Cutting surpassed his previous highest first-class score of 58 when he cracked former Test spinner Jason Krejza for sixes off successive balls late on a day that had earlier lost two hours to rain.

Queensland lost five wickets for four runs in a middle-order collapse, watching their score slump from 3-85 to 8-89 in the swing and seam-friendly conditions.

But Cutting put on 54 with Steve Magoffin (17) for the ninth wicket and 52 with No.11 Alister McDermott (10 not out) as the Tigers let the visitors off the hook.

In-form Tasmanian paceman Jackson Bird revelled in the conditions to bag 5-56, with Luke Butterworth taking 2-48.

Rain forced an early lunch when the Bulls were 2-46 and mounting an early recovery after losing Wade Townsend for a first-ball duck and Ryan Broad for six.

Andrew Robinson (19) and Joe Burns (43) put on 37 for the third wicket and then Burns and Chris Lynn (16) added 35 before the rot set in for the Bulls.

Both sides had lost key men to injury before naming their teams, the Tigers without allrounder James Faulkner and Queensland missing skipper James Hopes.

Tasmania can leapfrog Victoria into third with a win, and can go second if Western Australia go down to NSW.