Khawaja "rattled" by Tassie's decision to play dead

Queensland skipper Usman Khawaja admits he was left "disappointed" and "rattled" by Tasmania's decision to effectively kill-off their season-opening Marsh Sheffield Shield match before play started on the final day.

The match was called off by mutual consent half an hour before tea this afternoon, with Khawaja adding a suitably sardonic exclamation point to proceedings by bowling a single over in which he attempted to mimic the actions of Pakistan spinners Saeed Ajmal and Saqlain Mushtaq.

Despite dominating with the bat for three of the four days, Tasmania ended the game with marginally fewer bonus points than the Bulls who were clearly bemused by their opponents' reluctance to risk losing the match by pushing for an unlikely outright win on a flat pitch.

Khawaja believes he had taken the sporting stance by declaring his team's first innings closed 145 runs arrears late on day three, but was stunned when Tasmania sent out nightwatchman Lawrence Neil-Smith shortly before stumps yesterday.

"I was actually quite surprised because their openers came out with quite good intent (Saturday evening), and I thought 'all right, they'll put on some quick runs and then send us in tomorrow'," Khawaja said at game's end.

"So when they sent the nighty in, I was really rattled.

"From my end, I can't really say any more.

"We declared and put the ball in their court.

"I had moral rights, I could have kept batting if I wanted to.

"I felt they batted for a session too long on the second day, I thought they could have pushed the game on more expecting them to declare around lunch (on Friday).

"I'm a little bit disappointed.

"It was always going to be hard to get lots of wickets on that (pitch), so it had to be a sporting declaration and get them to set us a total and us try to chase it down.

"That was the only way there was going to be any result.

"But they obviously didn’t want to play that way, so that's just how it was."

A no-result was inevitable when Neil-Smith soaked up 36 balls before scoring his first run this morning, as he and opener Tim Ward defended defiantly in adding 83 runs without loss from 28 overs prior to lunch.

Ward later confirmed Tasmania had decided against setting Queensland a final-day target before play resumed this morning, at which point the Tigers were 1-59 and 204 runs ahead.

"The decision was made just to go out there and keep batting and make sure we didn't lose this one," said Ward who was named player of the match in just his second Shield appearance.

"It was made at the start of the day.

"We thought it was going to be too hard to take ten wickets and it was our job to go out there and take as much time out of the game as possible."

The stalest of stalemates overshadowed the achievement of Neil-Smith who followed up his stint as stand-in number five in Tasmania's first innings with a maiden first-class half-century in the second.

His 71no from 201 balls today represented the longest innings by a genuine nightwatchman in the Shield competition since Victoria fast bowler Scott Boland hung around for 213 balls to score 51 against Tasmania in 2013-14.

When the 22-year-old seamer reached his milestone with a crisply struck on-drive to the boundary from a Marnus Labuschagne full toss this afternoon, his return of seven fours and a six in his first score of 50 would have done any specialist batter proud.

But his steadfast stonewalling at the start of his innings meant his milestone was met with tightly folded arms and wry smiles from all-but one of his Queensland rivals.

Neil-Smith fashioned a 91-run second-wicket stand with Ward who followed his maiden first-class century (144 from 343 balls) in the first innings with another patient and polished 81 from 130 today.

The 23-year-old left-hander appeared on track to become the first opener to score hundreds in each innings of a Shield match so early in a career since Victoria's Travis Dean achieved the feat on debut (also against Queensland) six years ago.

But in the second over after lunch, he was surprised by a delivery from left-arm spinner Matt Kuhnemann (3-61) that spun viciously out of footmarks and Ward could only deflect the ball on to the base of leg stump.

He was replaced by Tasmania's regular number three Charlie Wakim who channelled Neil-Smith's earlier go-slow by scoring a single from the first 47 balls he faced before bunting a catch to silly-mid-off to be dismissed for three (off 61).

The Tigers tactics were rendered even more puzzling by the reality Neil-Smith was effectively protecting teammates Ben McDermott and Jordan Silk, two of the cleanest ball-strikers in domestic cricket who might have relished the chance to set Queensland a target.

And if Tasmania simply decided to use the final day of a game (that seemed destined for a draw from the moment Queensland were only able to take three wickets on day one) as early season centre-wicket practice, it would surely have been more valuable to grant that time to top-order batters.

That's unless Neil-Smith is eyeing a role of specialist nightwatchman, given he filled the role in the Tigers' first innings when he chiselled out 28 from 64 balls faced which included a cautious start to day two when he and Ward added 27 runs from 15 overs in the opening hour.

In the wake of his breezy 100no from 131 balls later that day, Silk revealed he was keen to head to the crease when McDermott was dismissed late on the first day but it was decided to deploy the nightwatchman instead.

While the pitch at Rolton Oval for this game has copped criticism, not surprisingly given just 14 wickets fell across almost 11 sessions at an average of 75 runs apiece, it was the result of limited preparation and seasonal factors.

Due to the last-minute rescheduling of the Queensland-Tasmania game in Brisbane last month, curator Trent Kelly was given barely 10 days' notice to prepare a pitch for a four-day game having previously expected Rolton Oval to host limited-overs matches for the immediate future.

In addition, Adelaide has endured an unusually cool start to spring which has stymied hopes of growing grass at a venue that also plays host to regular Australian rules football matches throughout winter.

"It was a bit dead that wicket," Khawaja said this evening.

"To be honest, talking to the curator it's a tough time of the year to prepare wickets because you don't get as much breakage (in the surface) because it's not as hot at the moment.

"He left a lot more grass on it for the last game between WA and SA, and that fizzled out a fair bit so at least this wicket was turning.

"It was just tough for the pace bowlers to get enough out of it."

Queensland's next Shield match is against SA at Adelaide Oval starting Friday, following a Marsh One Day Cup game between the two teams on Wednesday at Rolton Oval, while Tasmania travel to Perth later this week for a One Day Cup and Shield double against WA.

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