Cool Khawaja's unbeaten century steers Bulls home

An unbeaten captain's century from Usman Khawaja has helped Queensland clinch a three-wicket win over Tasmania in Hobart, where the Marsh Sheffield Shield's table-toppers hauled in a target of 310.

Khawaja and Marnus Labuschagne (78) did the bulk of the work in a tricky chase, putting on a 137-run partnership.

Khawaja, who hasn't played for Australia since the 2019 Ashes, finished 115 not out as the Bulls completed victory just short of 5pm AEDT on the final day of a topsy-turvy contest.

"After lunch they came out and just bowled absolutely beautifully, for about an hour-and-a-half, and me and Marny, we just couldn't get anywhere," the Bulls skipper said post-match. "We thought if we grinded it out … that was the toughest part of the innings, (Jackson) Bird was bowling beautifully – all the Tasmanian bowlers were bowling really well.

"We got through that and then everything clicked into gear. It was a pretty nice wicket once you got used to conditions (but) it was a hard wicket to start up on, there were a lot of guys coming in and getting out early.

"I was just looking at how many we were chasing, you'd see it come down – 250, 200, 150, 100 – I was sort of just counting down. I try not to look at the scoreboard too much, especially my own score, but it's hard not to look at the runs you're about to chase." 

The 34-year-old Khawaja's experience was telling as Tim Paine worked overtime throughout Saturday, trying to conjure wickets with help from an attack that was minus fast bowlers Riley Meredith (national duties) and Peter Siddle (injured thumb).

Khawaja was summoned to the middle at 2-53 after former Test paceman Jackson Bird started the day by removing Bryce Street (21) with the third ball of the day before adding first-innings centurion Joe Burns (20) shortly after to swing momentum Tasmania's way.

The left-hander never panicked as batting partners came and went, putting a high price on his wicket yet ensuring the scoreboard kept ticking over during a chanceless innings.

Khawaja's reaction to his 30th first-class century, brought up in 181 balls when he clipped a delivery from Gabe Bell off his pads for one of his 10 boundaries, was telling.

The veteran briefly acknowledged the milestone then quickly reset focus, knowing his side needed a further 55 runs at that stage.

Jimmy Peirson was out edging for four during the same over that Khawaja reached three figures.

The Bulls slipped to 7-297 when Nathan Ellis fired out Jack Wildermuth and Mark Steketee with consecutive balls, but that was as close as the hosts came to victory.

Labuschagne stroked eight boundaries in a composed knock, looking on track for a century until he was judged to have edged one of Beau Webster's medium-pacers during the post-lunch session.

The reaction of the world's No.3 Test batsman, who shook his head as he trudged off after being dismissed, was not dissimilar to that of his mentor Steve Smith at the SCG a day prior.

Labuschagne had been in his element during the pressure-laden situation, timing the ball impeccably and casually chatting with Paine after a particularly enthusiastic appeal.

Paine's bold call to hand the second new ball to Webster was rewarded with an edge from Matthew Renshaw (21) that was gleefully accepted, but Khawaja continued to leave the ball diligently.

Bird delivered 28.4 tireless overs and 11 maidens to finish with figures of 2-59, but it was ultimately in vein as the Bulls surged to the top of the Shield ladder. 

"There's still four games left so we don't want to get too far ahead of ourselves, but we're in a beautiful position right now," Khawaja added. "If we can keep setting up wins … Joey Burns batted beautifully in that first innings, his 170, if it wasn't for him and the way the tail batted we wouldn't have had a chance to do what we did in this (second) innings.

"If we win two or three more games, we should be up near the top, and hopefully with Michael Neser and Mitchell Swepson coming back, fingers crossed everything goes well."