West Australian youngster Sam Whiteman has led a fightback but fallen agonisingly short of a maiden Sheffield Shield century against Tasmania at Bellerive.

Whiteman had three figures in his sights in just his third Shield match before he was caught behind for 96 trying to pull Evan Gulbis (1-43).

The 20-year-old, whose previous best was 29, had hit the same bowler to the boundary with similar shots on the previous two deliveries but departed with the score at 3-191.

His innings continues some good form after he made 74 in the one-day match against South Australia at the WACA earlier this month.

At tea on day three, WA are 3-197 in their second innings, still needing another 184 to make Tasmania bat again.

Whiteman shared a 137-run partnership with skipper Adam Voges (59no) after Marcus North (33) had fallen on the second ball of the day from Jackson Bird (2-48).

But it was a crawl for the visitors, who eked out just 80 runs in the middle session with Voges taking 169 balls for his captain’s knock of 59.

The fightback will please new coach Justin Langer, in his first Shield match at the helm, after his side was bowled out for a paltry 67 in their first dig.

Earlier the Shield’s leading wicket-taker Bird, overlooked when national selectors called up three pacemen for the third Test against South Africa, had North caught in the gully by Gulbis without the Warriors adding to their overnight score of 1-54.