Paine’s message to Ashes hopefuls

If any first-class cricketer can sound a cautionary tale about the perils of prematurely calling time on one's Test aspirations, it's Australia's incumbent men's team captain Tim Paine.

The Tasmania gloveman was eyeing a job with a sporting goods manufacturer prior to being called up unexpectedly for last summer's home Ashes campaign, and then, within six months – in circumstances nobody foresaw – he was appointed to lead the Test outfit.

So when he counsels his Tasmania teammates Matthew Wade and Jackson Bird not to abandon their aspirations for the forthcoming Ashes series in the UK, even though the pair have indicated they believe their Test tenures have ended, it's worth taking notice.

Bird, who played the most recent of his nine Tests in that previous Ashes series of 2017-18, stormed to the top of the JLT Sheffield Shield wicket-takers' list for the current season with 7-59 in Tasmania's remarkable win over South Australia at Adelaide Oval today.

The 32-year-old now has 38 wickets from seven Shield matches this summer, at an average of 19.10 runs each.

Wade sits second on the Shield runs scorers tally for the summer, overtaken by Victoria's Test opener Marcus Harris following his epic 174 today, but like Bird does not see himself earning a recall any time soon having lost his position behind the stumps to Paine.

But Paine said today that both the canny right-arm seamer and the combative left-hand batter remain squarely in the frame for Ashes selection if their performances continue through the remaining three rounds of the Shield season.

And possibly into the competition final, after today's win in Adelaide lifted Tasmania to third on the JLT Sheffield Shield table.

"You've got to just keep plugging away, scoring runs and taking wickets and when opportunities pop up, you've got to be ready to take them," Paine said in the wake of the Tigers' six-wicket win.

"And I think both Matt and Jackson, if an opportunity was to come up, then they're both in really good form and ready to play Test cricket, there's no doubt about that.

"I think (Wade) is the same as Jackson, someone who thought his time was up (in Test cricket) and I know better than anyone (about) being in that situation."

Asked if Bird's summation after South Australia's first innings - in which he claimed 4-53 with the Dukes ball that is similar to those used in Test matches in the UK - that his time as a Test player had passed was premature, Paine was unequivocal.

Even though Australia's Ashes pace attack seems certain to revolve around Test incumbents Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins and Jhye Richardson, as well as Josh Hazlewood (recovering from injury), Peter Siddle, James Pattinson and possibly uncapped Daniel Worrall.

"When Jackson bowls the right length with the Dukes ball, he's an absolute nightmare," Paine said.

"He can swing the ball both ways, he can nip it both ways and it's coming from good height.

"If he keeps going like that, I'm sure he's right in the frame (for the Ashes).

"And if he keeps bowling the way he is, there's no doubt conditions in England historically would suit a bowler like Jackson.

"He's played in an Ashes (during Australia's 2013 tour) and done okay, and I think he's probably a better bowler right now than he was back then."

That's a difficult assessment to challenge given Bird's 12-wicket haul over the past four days, and his starring role in Tasmania's stunning win.

In the face of Bird and fellow seamer Tom Rogers' attack, South Australia's batting surrender was spectacular even allowing for the fact their season has been laced with a string of similar implosions.

In the hour after lunch on the final day, they seemed to be cruising towards a draw and might have sneakily considered sending Tasmania back into bat in the final session if they could cobble a lead of around 150.

But upon reaching 3-298 – an overall lead of 78 runs midway through the day – Callum Ferguson unluckily fell to a smart catch by Paine down the legside, and suddenly all hell broke loose.

In the twinkling of 50 deliveries with the second new-ball, Tasmania collected a scarcely believable 7-21 as batters succumbed at a pace more often witnessed in school competitions.

As is often the case after a lengthy partnership is broken, Jake Weatherald followed Ferguson back to the sheds having scored a drought-breaking 150 and figuring in a 151-run fourth-wicket stand that seemed to have carried the Redbacks to safety.

But the dual strike signalled a wicket frenzy, as the host team fulfilled their captain Travis Head's pre-game prophecy that batting against the Dukes ball is tough for batters new to the crease, which means wickets often tend to full in clumps.

Although SA's submission that saw their final six batters fold for the addition of three runs – including 4-0 from six balls to complete their innings – was not so much a clump as a calamity.

Despite the presence of widening cracks in an Adelaide Oval pitch baked by searing heat over the course of the match, Tasmania showed there was nothing impossible about batting on the surface by chasing down the meagre target of 109 with six wickets and almost 10 overs to spare.

And to add injury to their insult, SA's pace spearhead Chadd Sayers was unable to bowl in Tasmania's second innings due to a hamstring injury and is doubtful for the Redbacks next Shield game against Western Australia starting in Perth on Sunday.