Weatherald stars with century to hand Tigers big lead

Tasmania opener Jake Weatherald is closing in on his highest first-class score after dominating the Queensland bowlers on day one of their Sheffield Shield clash.

The 31-year-old sent another reminder of the quality top-order batters in the Australian domestic scene, although after making an unbeaten 185 he said he had probably left his run too late to be in the Test equation.

Bulls captain Mitchell Swepson won the toss and sent the Tigers in under heavy cloud cover at Allan Border Field on Friday but Weatherald and fellow left-hander Jake Doran (86no) were in complete control when bad light stopped play an hour after tea with Tasmania 3-358 off 76 overs.

Weatherald and Doran have added 161 off 177 deliveries in an unbroken fourth-wicket stand after Tim Ward (51) had played a fine hand at No.3.

Weatherald's highest Shield score is the 198 he made while playing for South Australia against Tasmania in 2019.

The veteran had made a couple of 40s in the opening Shield rounds this season but had been unable to make the most of the starts.

After the day's play he spoke of the welcome focus opening batters have had domestically this season after David Warner's retirement.

"It has been a bit of a circus going on in Australia trying to find an opener but it has been awesome to watch," Weatherald said.

"I'm very happy for Nathan (McSweeney) getting a gig. I think he's deserved that spot.

"I definitely left my run too late but I think there are some good openers around. Sam Whiteman is playing very well and Caleb Jewel has been very good for a long time. Hopefully we can keep putting the pressure on the Australian boys."

The Tigers had been bowled out for 98 in the second innings of their previous Shield clash against Western Australia but none of that fragility was on show.

The Bulls had themselves to blame with poor line and length from the bowlers and occasional shoddy fielding not helping their cause. Swepson appeared to run out of ideas as none of the six bowlers used troubled the visitors.

The Bulls were missing strike bowler Michael Neser (hamstring) and his absence was felt.

Weatherald went after the bowling from the get-go as his strike-rate of 91.58 suggests.

"It probably felt in the last game that I was hanging back a bit so in this game there was impetus to come out and meet the ball and I thought that worked well on that wicket," he said.

"It was nipping around a bit early but they gave us some opportunities to score which was good.

"It is a great venue to bat on and you get good reward."

Sheffield Shield standings 2024-25

Team	Matches played M	Wins W	Losses L	Drawn D	No results N/R	Deductions Ded.	Batting Bonus Bat	Bowling Bonus Bowl	Total points PTS
1 South Australia Men SA	6	3	1	2	0	0	4.63	5.3	29.93
2 Victoria Men VIC	6	3	2	1	0	0	3.76	5.3	28.06
3 NSW Men NSW	6	2	2	2	0	0	5.5	4.7	24.2
4 Western Australia Men WA	6	2	2	2	0	0	5.11	4.8	23.91
5 Queensland Bulls QLD	6	1	2	3	0	0	4.71	5.6	19.31
6 Tasmanian Tigers Men TAS	6	1	3	2	0	0	6.05	4.6	18.65

Legend

M: Matches played

W: Wins

L: Losses

D: Drawn

N/R: No results

Ded.: Deductions

Bat: Batting Bonus

Bowl: Bowling Bonus

PTS: Total points