Defending Bupa Sheffield Shield champions, the Tasmanian Tigers, are building nicely in the second half of the season and their skipper, George Bailey, couldn't be happier with his side's progress.
The Tigers have accounted for New South Wales and Queensland in consecutive matches since the Big Bash League break and sit third on the competition table, rapidly firming for a place in the Shield final and the opportunity to defend their title.
Bailey made 57 not-out and shared a 118-run partnership with Ed Cowan (77 not-out) to steer the Tigers to a comfortable eight wicket win over the Bulls.
"I think we've built our four day confidence up over the last few games and I was saying to the group we feel like we're starting to get some momentum and obviously this was a big one because it was a must win. If Queensland had got up the season was over," Bailey said.
Jackson Bird's nine-wicket haul and runs to both Mark Cosgrove and Cowan were particularly pleasing to Bailey who was pleased to return for the final day in Hobart having spent Sunday in Brisbane as batting cover for the Australian ODI team and dispelled any concerns over his recent workload.
"I'm really excited," he said.
"The way the Tigers are playing is really exciting and to be around that Australian team any time is really invigorating. As long as we keep winning I don't think I'll get tired."
While they still have work to do in displacing either Queensland or Western Australia for a berth in the final, Bailey said the prospect of the Ryobi Cup final against South Australia this weekend was the perfect platform on which to make a late-season charge for the top two.
"It's still a long way away and obviously there's the one day final next and that’s a big focus and hopefully that can be the catalyst for another Shield win," he said.
Meanwhile, Queensland captain Chris Hartley was honest in his appraisal of his team's performance.
"At the end of the day Tasmania have outplayed us in all facets of the game," he said.
"They showed us where to bowl for long periods of time... and the fact is our batsmen didn't score enough runs for us in either innings. We can't be relying on our bottom four to be scoring all our runs."
"The boys are disappointed because we certainly didn't play the way we know we can and we didn't play with the skills we've got."
"The fact is we were chasing the game almost every day. Every time we had a good period of play we followed it with a bad period."
After winning outright in their first five Shield matches this season, the Bulls are stuck on 30 points having failed to take anything from outings against Western Australia and Tasmania.
With the Warriors and Tigers putting the heat on the faltering Bulls at the top of the Shield table, Hartley said the team needed to find its best form quickly but wouldn’t blame the BBL break for his side’s recent failure.
"We're probably not playing good enough in long enough periods in the last couple of weeks and that's something we've got change pretty quickly," Hartley said.
"To be honest I thought the break from the BBL was good for the boys. It was six Shield games in a row and any squad of players needs a little rest at some stage... at the end of the day the last couple of games we've played has been very patchy, very inconsistent."
In better news for the Queenslanders, James Hopes is making good progress in his return from injury and Hartley said he looks poised to play a big role in the run home.
"I'd like to think he'll be involved in our team at some stage in the last couple of rounds and hopefully a final because he's obviously our captain and an all-rounder and brings great balance to our team," he said.
