Tasmania tip-top despite coaching upheaval

While Tasmania has largely been able to dodge the disruption the pandemic has wrought on the mainland this winter, it hasn't quite been 'BAU' for the island state's cricket team in recent months.

The Tigers became victims of their own success when their recently-appointed head coach Jeff Vaughan and his sidekick, an equally highly-rated batting whisperer, Michael di Venuto, were poached to be assistants for the national men's team for the coming season.

Added to the anticipated departure of coaching director (and Hobart Hurricanes coach) Adam Griffith to the Indian Premier League for a good chunk of the pre-season, it left Ali de Winter, the head of men's pathways, as the last man standing.

"We were starting to scratch our heads a little bit," de Winter, the former national men's team's bowling coach, told cricket.com.au from the Gold Coast where the Tasmanians are preparing for their opening matches of the season against Queensland.

De Winter assumed the interim head coaching role and has been supported by Greg Shipperd, the much-loved former Tasmania coach who now leads the Sydney Sixers, as a consultant. The pair have settled into a familiar routine, having known one another for more than 30 years.

"He (Shipperd) is a bit like Dumbledore, and a few of them call him 'Grandpa'," laughed de Winter. "He'll have that little bit of wisdom, every now and then, a little diamond in the rough."

Neither de Winter nor Shipperd covet the full-time job, which former international players Cameron White, Johan Botha and Ryan Campbell have been linked to.

"There's been a lot of good work done over the last three or four years under 'Griffo' and 'Vaughny' to get this team to a point now where we are ready to talk about winning," said de Winter.

"In my mind, it would be great if the players actually handed over to the new coach, rather than me doing a handover.

"I'd love Jordan Silk or Beau Webster, one of those core guys, to say, 'This is how we've been playing, This is the way we want to play. We'd really like to continue to play in this way, because we think this is our identity as a cricket team'.

"And that would be a really nice way for Greg and I to walk away having left that kind of legacy on the group."

Having not won a trophy since 2012-13, the Tigers are desperate for success.

De Winter is optimistic about the prospects of Riley Meredith, the kind of express paceman he believes the state has not seen since Gerard Denton more than a decade ago.  

Meredith returned from Australia's winter tours of Bangladesh and the Caribbean with a side strain and while he has since recovered, he will initially be eased back into the fray via limited-overs cricket only.

In something of a change in strategy from recent times, de Winter says Tasmania are committed to playing a spinner in every Sheffield Shield game – even at Blundstone Arena, which has tended to favour pace bowlers and often seen the Tigers field all-seam attacks.

It spells good news for emerging off-spinner Jarod Freeman, who had a strong finish to the last Shield season, and last summer's joint Marsh One-Day Cup player-of-the-season, Tom Andrews.

Another finger-spinner, Ben Manenti, who has played 21 games for the Sixers in recent BBL seasons, has also moved to Hobart and has been training with the main squad.

On the batting front, Tim Ward will begin the season opening in the Shield side while Ben McDermott is eager to translate his white-ball success into the longer format.

The Tigers play Queensland in four-day and 50-over games at Brisbane's Ian Healy Oval this week but the remainder of their schedule for this season remains unknown.

Tasmania

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

Last season

Sheffield Shield: Fourth

One-Day Cup: Fourth

Fixtures (to date)

September 28-October 1: Sheffield Shield v Queensland

October 3: Marsh Cup v Queensland

The inside word with interim coach Ali de Winter

The pre-season

"Initially it caught us off guard a little, losing 'Diva' and 'Vaughny', but also knowing 'Griffo' was going to the IPL. It created a vacuum in our coaching structure.

"Knowing in the playing group quite well over a long period of time, and being a constant in the system, they asked me if I'd be the interim coach.

"We had talked with Greg Shipperd about potentially coming down and doing some work with our coaches and pathway players (even before Vaughan and Di Venuto's departures).

"So by extension, we offered him the opportunity to come and support our programs, and me in particular. The outcome has been just fantastic."

Player availability

"Nathan Ellisis away (with the IPL and T20 World Cup). We've got Matthew Wade (for the Queensland games) - we'll get one of each (format) out of him and then he'll be away (with the World Cup).

"We'll need to work as a group to cover the loss of him but we're confident in those players coming in to fill that position.

"Riley Meredith – he's fit but he's not quite ready to play a Shield game from a workload point of view, so he'll be in the frame for those one-day games.

"Tim Paineis doing some recovery post-surgery, so we won't see him, I don't think, for the first two or three Sheffield Shield games. So we're down a couple of soldiers but it's the same for just about every other state.

Young gun

"We're thrilled with the way Tim Ward has come along in the winter time. His game has just gone to another level, so we're really excited about him as our long-term opening batter. He's just really developed his game - that confidence he built in from playing a game at the end of last year (is showing).

"He'll start in our (Shield) XI, he'll open the batting.

"A couple of our younger players will probably get exposed to one-day cricket, Mitch Owen and Brad Hope. (Hope) has come to us from Western Australia this year. They're both showing excellent progress.

"We've also got young Nivethan Radhakrishnan from New South Wales. He's been terrific - it's been a real stretch for him first time in a senior program, but he's just responded terrifically well."

Key players

"(Peter Siddle and Jackson Bird) are both really important to us, particularly in the Sheffield Shield.

"Jake Doran is somebody we would hope is that sort of 750-800 run man this year, to have another really strong consistent season.

"Ben McDermott batting at number four in the Shield team is somebody we hope to have a personal best year as well.

"There are a number of players that, if they perform at that level we think they can, then we're going to contend in all forms of the game."