Tasmania preview: Title-laden winter bodes well for Tigers

The Tasmanian squad now boasts both Indian Premier League and T20 Blast champions and it's that experience the Tigers will be hoping can deliver their first piece of silverware in 10 years.

Tassie stalwart Matthew Wade (who won the IPL in May with Gujarat Titans), and Nathan Ellis and Ben McDermott (who won England's T20 competition with Hampshire) have all enjoyed fruitful off-seasons with their T20 franchises.

The Tigers cruelly missed out on a chance of qualification for the Marsh One-Day Cup final last year with two of their 50-over fixtures against eventual runners-up NSW washed out, and they also finished third in the Marsh Sheffield Shield.

But with a new head coach in Jeff Vaughan and new full-time skipper in Jordan Silk, the Tigers will be hoping luck is on their side as they look to take the next step in 2022-23.

"It's really exciting for young players to be plying their trade on the world stage, but to have individual success as well as team success that only ensures that they come back at the top of their game and excited and happy and satisfied with where their own performance is," Vaughan told cricket.com.au.

"They also bring back some really good experiences for our group and shared learnings about how to win in different situations.

"It's always nice not only having guys playing cricket throughout the winter but having individual and collective successes is only a good thing for our group."

Vaughan will also be hoping fitness fortunes are on their side this summer after star quicks Jackson Bird, Riley Meredith and Nathan Ellis, and talented young bowlers Lawrence Neil-Smith and Jarrod Freeman missed large chunks of last season through injury.

Tasmania will be the final state to kick off their season when they face South Australia in the Marsh Cup at Allan Border Field in Brisbane on Wednesday.

Last season

Sheffield Shield: 3rd

Marsh One-Day Cup: 3rd

Squad: Tom Andrews, Gabe Bell, Jackson Bird, Iain Carlisle, Jake Doran, Nathan Ellis, Brad Hope, Caleb Jewell, Ben McDermott, Riley Meredith, Lawrence Neil-Smith, Sam Rainbird, Peter Siddle, Jordan Silk, Billy Stanlake, Matthew Wade, Charlie Wakim, Tim Ward, Beau Webster, Mac Wright. Rookies: Nick Davis, Jarrod Freeman, Mitch Owen, Nivethan Radhakrishnan

Ins: Nick Davis, Billy Stanlake (Queensland)

Outs: Tim Paine

Possible best XIs

Sheffield Shield: Tim Ward, Caleb Jewell, Charlie Wakim, Matthew Wade, Ben McDermott, Jordan Silk, Beau Webster, Tom Andrews, Peter Siddle, Jackson Bird, Riley Meredith

Marsh One-Day Cup: Ben McDermott, Caleb Jewell, Matthew Wade, Mac Wright, Jordan Silk, Beau Webster, Tom Andrews, Nathan Ellis, Riley Meredith, Peter Siddle, Billy Stanlake

The inside word with head coach Jeff Vaughan

The pre-season: "We're really fortunate we can be in (the marquee at Blundstone Arena) from about the middle of June as it allows the bowlers to get off their full runs earlier and be actually training and batting and competing on a turf facility certainly negates the need to get up to northern (Australia) as early as previously needed.

"It was bigger this year, we had both ends of the training block covered so we had some really good wickets throughout because we had more wickets we were able to rotate through so it was a good pre-season from a facilities perspective."

Fitness and availability: "We've still got a couple away – Nathan Ellis got a call up to the Aussie group (in India and Cairns) and 'Wadey' (Matthew Wade has also been) in India, so it's great to have those guys in that type of environment.

"We won't have (Wade) for the start of the season, he's our only one in the T20 World Cup at this stage, but everyone else barring injuries (to Brad Hope, Mitch Owen and Billy Stanlake) will be available for us so it's going to be a good group to be able to pick from and it will create some good headaches for us.

"Jackson (Bird) has been with us for the last couple of months and had a graduated return from (a shoulder injury he suffered playing for Kent in) England throughout the pre-season. His last three or four weeks have been really promising, he's bowling well, it's the Jackson of old.

"Sidds (Peter Siddle) arrived back in Australia (from his county season with Somerset earlier this month), he's bowling and while he had a little bit of soreness at the back end of his time in England, he's still very fit and healthy."

New face: Billy Stanlake: "He's been with us throughout the entirety of the pre-season and is progressing nicely. He's bowling and he's really pleased with where he's at and how he's tracking and we're looking forward to getting some cricket out of him this year at some stage."

Young gun: Lawrence Neil-Smith: "He's a promising kid isn't he; he had an injury interrupted season last year and didn't play from Christmas onwards but it's really nice to see him back and he's going to feature very strongly for us over the over the summer. He's had a big off-season, is fitter and stronger again and I'm excited for him over the coming years."

Talking points

Will Riley Meredith and Nathan Ellis play red-ball cricket?

"I know both of them are desperate to play all formats of the game, we're certainly planning on them both playing all formats of the game. Obviously, they get selected for higher honours and franchises or different teams around the world predominantly in white-ball cricket but certainly in our world and organisation we're very keen on them playing red-ball for us and it's something they're working very hard at to ensure they're ready and successful when their opportunity arises."

New captain: "To Wadey's credit he came into my office way back in the early stages of pre-season soon after I'd been appointed and suggested that given the World Cup and being away for a fair chunk of the first half of the season, and not being around for the pre-season, he thought it was best to hand the reins over.

"He was certainly keen to play his last few seasons under a new captain so he could help out the next person. For him to be able to hand it over to Jordan (Silk) and play under him and help him on his learning curve through being a (new) captain will be wonderful support for Jordan and allow Wadey to go out and play and compete and be the best cricketer he can be.

"The model last year while Wadey was away seemed to work well with Jordan (Marsh Cup) and Beau Webster (Sheffield Shield). We could have gone that way as well this season but through lots of conversations with key personnel throughout the organisation we decided that the best model would be one captain across both formats.

"Jordan certainly fit the bill with all of his components and his history (having) been a natural leader of young men and the players in this group as well so we were really pleased to announce him as our captain."

Key player: "We're pretty happy with the demographic of our group; we've got some good senior players and a good crux of young 20 to 26-year-old lads who we're really looking forward to developing not only this year, but over the coming three to four years and creating a bit of a culture within Tasmanian cricket where they are winning lots of games for Tasmania.

"I don't think there's any one particular player we're trying to pin our hopes on or put more pressure on, but there is a good group of young players coming through that in time will be able to take over from that senior group."

Team to beat: "Western Australia winning everything last year would have to be the standout and they'd have to be the ones with the target on their back that most states I'm sure would be putting forward as the team to beat."