Neser fires before Bulls make inroads against Tassie

Tasmania will require innings of substance from their middle-order that includes Test captain Tim Paine if they are to prevent Queensland from extending the Marsh Sheffield Shield dominance they've held over their southern rivals for the past six years.

On the back of bona fide allrounder Michael Neser's maiden first-class century, the Bulls head into the final day at Gladys Elphick Park in Adelaide holding a lead of 193 and with seven Tigers' wickets between them and season-opening victory.

Tasmania allrounder Beau Webster admitted tonight his team had little realistic hope of chasing a win, but believed they were well placed to force a draw if not out pair Jordan Silk and Jake Doran can stay around and the middle-order led by Paine and himself take heed of their Queensland rivals.

"We've got seven wickets left in the sheds with some good quality batsmen out there and a few to come," Webster said.

"That (saving the game) is definitely our aim.

"Winning the game is probably out of the question at the moment so we're looking to dig in and try and bat some long periods of time and take some confidence into the next couple of games."

Queensland have triumphed in 11 of their previous 12 Shield meetings with Tasmania stretching back to 2014-15, and have dominated this game since Neser grabbed two wickets in his opening spell on day one before finishing with a five-wicket haul.

It means the Test aspirant, whose previous highest score in more than 50 first-class matches was 77 against Western Australia in Perth eight years ago, became the first player to post a hundred and take a five-for in the same Shield match since Mitchell Johnson a decade earlier.

Remarkably, Western Australia's Ashton Agar joined him in achieving that feat less than hour later.

Neser was the last man dismissed in Queensland's mammoth first innings of 529, having faced 168 deliveries that yielded two sixes as well as 19 boundaries, two of which came off consecutive deliveries from Riley Meredith to carry the pace bowler to his milestone.

That ended an anxious few minutes as Bulls' No.11 Mitchell Swepson defended stoutly with Neser at the non-striker's end on 92, before his flurry of fours earned him a rousing ovation from teammates and a broad smile from the newly credentialled batter.

Resuming on five not out this morning, Neser was involved in an 86-run seventh-wicket stand with Jimmy Peirson (62) before being the senior partner in unions with Mark Steketee (23), Xavier Bartlett (five) and Swepson (eight not out).

The 30-year-old, who suffered an interrupted pre-season due to a nagging groin injury during which time he devoted significant time to improving his batting, then took the new ball as Tasmania set off in pursuit of the 279 needed to make the Bulls bat a second time.

"It was tough, there's no beating around the bush," Neser said at day's end.

"It wasn't easy but we'd done all the hard work pre-season, so that's what helps me get up for that."

Unlike the opening morning of the season on Saturday, Neser went unrewarded in his first spell but Tasmania soon found themselves in strife at 3-60 late in the day.

Opener Alex Doolan (10) drove with feet anchored at an outswinger from Bartlett that was pouched by Joe Burns at first slip, before Charlie Wakim (11) yorked himself in attempting to turn a well-flighted leg break from Swepson into a full-toss.

When Ben McDermott (5) was surprised by a delivery from Jack Wildemuth that bounced from the largely benign surface and was caught behind, Tasmania were facing the prospect of having a bulk of their batting strength back in the sheds before they had reduced the deficit below 200.

But opener Silk (37no) remained defiant and found solid support from Doran (16no), who had enhanced his allrounder credentials earlier in the day when he had Bartlett caught at the wicket by Paine to snare his second first-class wicket in his 40th match.

Doran was bowling left-arm medium-pace as Paine searched for a wicket on a pitch that had offered little help to his five-pronged seam attack.

"It's a pretty flat wicket out there," Webster said tonight.

"It looked pretty flat while they were batting, and it still looks pretty nice out there now.

"I don't think there's any issues with the pitch, it's just about digging in and batting those long periods of time – we saw what they did.

"Swepo (Swepson) is landing them really well, so he's definitely going to be a challenge tomorrow."

Tasmania opted not to include a specialist spinner in their starting XI despite having former South Australia left-arm orthodox allrounder Tom Andrews in their squad.

Webster alternated between pace and spin in bowling more than 20 overs, but found little in the surface to encourage his off-breaks.

While Swepson bowled tidily without exerting relentless pressure on the Tigers' batters, he did offer a point of difference and allowed Bulls captain Usman Khawaja to rotate his quicks in shorter spells from the opposite end.

It was luxury Tasmania's seamers would have eyed enviously given veterans Jackson Bird (1-94) and Peter Siddle (1-65) sent down 65 overs between them, while Nathan Ellis (3-99) and Meredith (1-162 from 34 overs) shared a similar workload.

"Those three wickets at the back end of the day really helped," Neser said tonight.

"We've got a lot of work to do tomorrow, it's a fairly flat wicket and our bowlers bowled really well today.

"Every now and then we've seen that it's kept low and Mitch Swepson felt there was spin as well.

"So there will be chances, we just have to take them tomorrow."

Queensland XI: Joe Burns, Bryce Street, Marnus Labuschagne, Usman Khawaja (c), Matt Renshaw, Jimmy Peirson (wk), Jack Wildermuth, Michael Neser, Mark Steketee, Xavier Bartlett, Mitchell Swepson

Tasmania XI: Jordan Silk, Alex Doolan, Charlie Wakim, Ben McDermott, Jake Doran, Tim Paine (c, wk), Beau Webster, Nathan Ellis, Peter Siddle, Jackson Bird, Riley Meredith