Taped-up tennis balls fuel Paine's Shield ton

Tim Paine overcame a steady stream of bouncers and the odd sledge from passing traffic as he tuned up for the Test summer with a Marsh Sheffield Shield ton that left Tasmania eyeing their first win of the season.

While the leafy surrounds of Karen Rolton Oval and the arterial road than runs perpendicular to its northern end are a far cry from the venues the Aussies will play at in the coming months, Paine's third first-class century is vindication for his tireless – and unusual – efforts to shape up for the world's No.1 Test team, India.

In addition to facing countless throwdowns in the nets before, after and during play in the lead-in to his innings on Wednesday, Paine has also employed some more unorthodox methods since arriving in Adelaide for five-week Shield 'bubble'.

The Test skipper has been facing taped-up tennis balls thrown by Tigers batting coach Wade Townsend in the courtyard of their hotel, with teammates watching on from their balconies.

"He's always working on things. At the moment he's trying to play the ball late. He's working with our batting coach a lot," said Jake Doran, who made a breakthrough ton of his own in a 153-run stand with his skipper.

"A lot of taped-up tennis ball he's using for swing. Him and Marnus (Labuschagne) are pretty close – there's always sending each other footage going about their own business.

"It was good entertainment watching (Paine and Townsend) from the balcony … Some of the basic things like that you learn a lot from.

"He works extremely hard. The way he goes about his training is what everyone looks up to and he leads by example really. He's one of those people who's always doing the extra one per cent things."

South Australia's plan to bombard Paine with short balls in the hope he would sky one proved fruitless as his unbeaten 111 saw his side reach 8-493 before declaring, as Tasmania grabbed two wickets by stumps on day three.

The Redbacks were 2-93 in their second dig at the close, still 205 runs away from making the visitors bat again, following Doran and Paine’s twin hundreds as well as Charlie Wakim’s 83 and Ben McDermott’s 90 the previous day.

Unrelenting paceman Chadd Sayers returned the remarkable figures of 29 overs, 17 maidens, 3-27 and proved SA’s main threat with the ball.

The only concern for Tasmania came when Wes Agar struck Paine with a nasty knock to the upper part of his right arm. While he waved off medical staff who came running onto the field, he appeared in discomfort at times during his 201-ball stay.

"He probably could well have took it (the short ball) on but he knew there was a risk versus reward … he knew he didn't have to play at it and just played it safe," said Doran, who added that Paine's arm was fine at day's end.

"It worked out in the end for him. He was in no trouble."

Paine struck the opening boundary of the day with a sharp cover drive, but balls in his half of the pitch became few and far between as SA dared him to hook with multiple fielders stationed square of the wicket.

He wasn’t the only one to end up in some discomfort; Paine’s opposite number Travis Head had to go off the field for a brief period in the opening session to ice his left pinky finger after dislocating it, but was able to return soon after.

Doran hardly put a foot wrong in his 229-ball knock and the 23-year-old, who has only offered a glimpses of his immense potential through his previous 40 first-class matches, brought up his ton with a pull shot off Kane Richardson.

"I’ve fell short in the nineties two times before (today) so it was a bit nerve-wracking," said Doran. "It was pleasing to get past (100) and get that reward."

Doran’s exit to a Lloyd Pope (2-203 from 44 overs) ball that spat at him and ballooned off his glove to slip was a rare instance of significant deviation from a surface that saw 12 wickets fall on day one but has only yielded eight in the ensuing two.

Paine, after resisting the urge to fall into SA's short-ball trap, started fighting fire with fire and bisected the deep fielders with a swivelling pull shot and then a majestic upper-cut, both off Agar, to reach a 115-ball half-century.

He added 110 for the final three wickets with help from Beau Webster (who was aggrieved at being given out caught down the leg-side for 25), Tom Andrews (26) and Peter Siddle, who scored an unbeaten six in shepherding Paine to triple figures.

Tasmania should have had Jake Weatherald out before tea when he edged Siddle between McDermott and Webster in the slips, but McDermott made up for their inaction by snaffling another opportunity from the same batsman off paceman Nathan Ellis' second ball.

Siddle then got his reward and put yet another dent in SA's hopes of stopping the Tigers when Brad Davis left one that ducked in and crashed into his stumps. 

South Australia XI: Jake Weatherald, Henry Hunt, Brad Davis, Travis Head (c), Callum Ferguson, Harry Nielsen (wk), Liam Scott, Chadd Sayers, Kane Richardson, Wes Agar, Lloyd Pope

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