Tassie preview: Settled Tigers set for next evolution

If measured purely on finishing position, last summer would have appeared a backwards step for Tasmania. Having reached the Sheffield Shield final the previous season, they slipped to fifth in both men's competitions in 2024-25.

But as the saying goes, success isn't always linear, and wins and losses didn't tell the full story for the Tigers last season.

Mercurial allrounder Beau Webster broke into the Test team and had an instant impact, producing defining hands against India, South Africa in the World Test Championship final and West Indies to help Australia to a 3-0 series sweep.

Spin recruit Matt Kuhnemann also returned to the Test team in Sri Lanka with a series-high 16 wickets and has earned call ups to Australia's white-ball squads in recent months.

Breakout white-ball star Mitch Owen made his international debut after lifting Hobart Hurricanes to a maiden Big Bash title, while skipper Nathan Ellis has cemented himself in Australia's T20 side.

And Jake Weatherald is in contention for an Ashes berth after topping the Sheffield Shield runs tally last season with 906 at 50.33 after initially struggling to break into the Tigers team when he moved to Tasmania two years ago.

"It's a wonderful part of our program to be able to send players off and represent the country," men's head coach Jeff Vaughan said ahead of his side's Dean Jones Trophy season opener against NSW on Tuesday.

"Ultimately, they all want to be representing our country, so we understand that's part of our role at domestic level and our role as coaches is to equip our players to have success but then go on and be able to replicate that success at the higher level."

Despite injuries to several of their fast bowlers last season and key players missing through national selection, the Tigers were still in the hunt for a top two spot until losing their penultimate game of the season to Queensland.

Emerging talent Nivethan Radhakrishnan, who opened alongside Weatherald in the second half of the Shield season, gained valuable experience, as did under-19 World Cup-winning spinner Raf MacMillian, who played four one-dayers and earned his first-class debut when Kuhnemann wasn't available.

Teenager Aiden O'Connor also provides another all-round option with Webster and Owen increasingly on international duties.

With three wins in both the Shield and one-day competitions last season, Vaughan told cricket.com.au a pre-season focus had been recognising the "key moments" when games were there for the taking.

"Going into the last couple of rounds, everyone was live to play in the in the Shield final," he said. "It only came down to moments in the season and we've spoken about how we navigate those key moments in games and wrestling momentum, holding momentum when you've got it over a four-day game that shifts so much throughout the course of those four days.

"Recognising those moments and playing them accordingly is where whoever steps up this season and has the ultimate success will navigate those moments the best."

Tasmania have kept a stable squad as they seek to rebound in 2025-26, with the state's all-time leading wicket-taker, Jackson Bird, one of two inclusions that will be a welcome boost for the Tigers' fast-bowling stocks.

Towering 210cm left-arm quick Marcus Bean also joins from Queensland while emerging right-armer Iain Carlisle is fully fit again after missing an entire summer with back stress fractures. Batter Mac Wright returns following an extended layoff due to knee surgery.

"We feel as though we've evolved for the better from last season in our Tigers program, largely from a couple of small additions … and we've got some great depth with our bowlers now," Vaughan said.

"The health of our bowling group at the moment, that certainly creates some capability for us to manage the season far greater than we were able to last year."

2025-26 squad

Marcus Bean, Gabe Bell, Jackson Bird, Iain Carlisle, Jake Doran, Kieran Elliott, Nathan Ellis*, Bradley Hope, Matt Kuhnemann*, Caleb Jewell, Riley Meredith, Lawrence Neil-Smith, Mitch Owen, Will Prestwidge, Nivethan Radhakrishnan, Jordan Silk, Billy Stanlake, Charlie Wakim, Tim Ward, Jake Weatherald, Beau Webster*, Mac Wright. Rookies: Nick Davis, Raf MacMillan, Aidan O'Connor

Ins: Marcus Bean, Jackson Bird (NSW), Nivethan Radhakrishnan (upgraded rookie)

Outs: Jarrod Freeman

* Denotes Cricket Australia contract

Last season

Sheffield Shield: Fifth

One-Day Cup: Fifth

Possible best XIs

Potential XI for first one-day game (v NSW, September 16): Mitch Owen, Caleb Jewell, Beau Webster, Jake Weatherald, Jordan Silk (c), Mac Wright, Jake Doran (wk), Tom Rogers, Billy Stanlake, Matt Kuhnemann, Riley Meredith

Sheffield Shield (at full strength): Jake Weatherald, Caleb Jewell, Tim Ward, Jordan Silk (c), Jake Doran (wk), Beau Webster, Mitch Owen, Matt Kuhnemann, Jackson Bird, Gabe Bell, Riley Meredith

Inside word with coach Jeff Vaughan

Busy winter schedule

Beau Webster, Matt Kuhnemann, Nathan Ellis and Mitch Owen were all touring with Australian squads, with Jake Weatherald and Billy Stanlake earning selection for Australia A in Darwin. The Hurricanes also sent a team to the Global Super League in Guyana as well as the Top End T20 tournaments. Webster, Kuhnemann and Caleb Jewell also played country cricket in the UK, the latter dominating with 1000 runs for Derbyshire.

"We've had some cricket through the winter with boys going everywhere and different parts of the globe – us (the Hurricanes) going to Guyana and then Darwin, international and franchise cricket, or even just in the UK, playing some club cricket there," Vaughan said.

"We'll always support our players to continue to play as much of the year as possible. For them to go away and continue to be under that performance pressure is only going to help them on their journey.

"It's something that we find really hard to replicate in a training environment as well, so any time our players can get away and play some cricket through the winter, more often than not, it's fully supported from us."

Mitch Owen's rise

"We didn't see a lot of him – he went from the start of the off-season to the IPL, into Major League Cricket and the Australian setup as well. We connected with him throughout, but we also get lots of updates on him, and probably his bowling has been one that we get a lot of feedback about as to how that's developed and improved over time. So looking forward to seeing the opportunity for him to be able to do that a little bit more in domestic cricket for this coming season.

"Hopefully he continues (to get) white-ball opportunities with Australia, be it in the 50- or 20-over formats and in and around that I've got no doubt that he can be successful at red-ball cricket.

"He wants to continue to play red-ball cricket and he can still play (for) a lot of franchises throughout the year at different stages of the calendar, but he's going to continue to have success and impact at red-ball cricket."

Availability

Mitch Owen and Matt Kuhnemann will be unavailable for Tasmania's Sheffield Shield opener against Queensland in Brisbane due to Australia's T20 tour of New Zealand. Nathan Ellis will miss that tour on paternity leave with he and wife Connie expecting their first child, but Vaughan is hopeful he'll be available for one or two of their early season one-day matches before India's white-ball tour of Australia in October.

Vaughan is also expecting Beau Webster to be managed in preparation for the Ashes. "There's a world where he's available for four Shield games before the Ashes, theoretically five Ashes Tests, a little bit of Hurricanes and then four Sheffield Shield games to finish the season," he said. "That'll be a huge summer for Beau, and we'll be smart with our management."

Jackson Bird's return

"We probably underestimated how much of a mentor he can be or could have been, so the standout for mine is his ability to impart knowledge across the other bowlers in our fast-bowling brigade. He is a standout trainer; the number of times our batters have come out of nets or training environments and said, 'Jackson was so hard to face and so hard to play and so consistent and bowled such great areas'.

"Like any of our bowlers, we know that no one can play 10 Shield games into an 11th and win a Sheffield Shield by playing all of those games. Jackson's no different to any of our other bowlers. He's a bit more mature and we'll have to manage him pre-Christmas into the BBL and then at the back end to have him bowling to his best capability throughout.

"He's signed for one year, but we're not putting a full stop on that. That'll be a conversation for us at the back end of the year. He started a bit of a coaching journey with us in his mentorship with our bowling group. He's going to be a good coach down the track but at the moment, we're hoping he could still be a wonderful player, whether that's for one more year, whether it's two or more, we'll manage that throughout."

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