Hughes, Copeland lead Blues to victory

A quick-fire century by opener Daniel Hughes and a seven-wicket haul by paceman Trent Copeland have handed NSW Blues a solid Sheffield Shield win over Tasmania to keep their final hopes alive.

At Blundstone Arena on Monday the visitors quickly chased down a 149-run second innings target to post a seven-wicket win with more than a day to spare.

A thrilling final over saw Hughes belt four successive boundaries in his innings of 100 not out, with the last four sealing victory and bringing up his century from just 89 balls.

"I just went out there with a positive mind set ... it paid dividends in the end," said the opener, who fell for a duck in the first innings.

The Blues are now third on the ladder just 2.49 behind Victoria ahead of their crucial clash against the Bushrangers in Alice Springs next week.

Queensland are in second place, less than a point behind the Vics, meaning the identity of the two teams who will battle it out for the final, and who will host, will come down to the final round.

Full ladder: 2015-16 Sheffield Shield ladder

It was a strong finish after a shaky start for NSW, who were 3-17 early on with Ed Cowan and skipper Nic Maddinson failing to score and No.3 Kurtis Petterson adding only four.

But Hughes settled with Ben Rohrer (37 not out) for an unbeaten 133-run partnership that got the job done.

Tassie were earlier skittled for 177 with Copeland taking 7-58 in a performance just shy of his career-best first-class figures.

"I put that win down to our bowlers (who) bowled beautifully, especially Copeland - he took 10 (wickets) for the match," Hughes said.

"He's been on since he's come back into Shield.

"He's taken two five-fors in the last two games and he's been phenomenal. His line and length, the batters, they just can't play him."

For Tasmania, Test paceman Jackson Bird was impressive, also taking 10 scalps for the match including 7-45 in the first innings, which was a first-class career-best.

Coach Dan Marsh said a simple formula followed by Bird and Copeland saw them achieve where others failed.

"When it's flat as a bowler you've got to hit your length and you can still be challenging," he said.

The coach said most of the Tigers produced a below-par effort over the three days.

"We didn't bat well, it was very disappointing, a lot of disappointing shots."

And on a challenging pitch Marsh said his batsmen couldn't handle Copeland.

"We knew Copeland was going to be the danger man today and we didn't absorb that pressure."

With Tasmania firmly at the bottom of the Shield competition and out of finals contention, they enter the last round against South Australia playing for pride.