Tasmania earned the right to host the final by beating Victoria last week while Queensland concluded a thrilling finish to the Sheffield Shield season with a remarkable win in Perth to end up finishing second as the Bulls look to defend their crown.
As has become somewhat customary in recent years, as the home side Tasmania knows that a draw will secure them the Sheffield Shield title that clearly was exactly what its opening batsmen were playing for on Friday in the opening day of the final.
However, given the Tigers' horrifically slow scoring rate throughout the day and even though they only lost two wickets, Queensland is well and truly still in with a chance simply because Tasmania hasn’t put enough runs on the board.
Tasmania is 2-176 at stumps after the first day with Jordan Silk not out on 82 and Ricky Ponting on 20. Earlier, Mark Cosgrove made 58 and Alex Doolan six.
However, Queensland is now in possession of the second new ball coming into the second day and will remain confident of restricting Tasmania to a score that gives them a chance of still defending their Shield title.
Despite taking just two wickets for the entire first day, the fact that Tasmania has just 176 runs on the board leaves the game evenly poised especially considering the final is a five-day match.
Tasmania captain George Bailey won the toss and elected to bat first and openers Silk and Cosgrove were hardly even looking to score for a lot of the first two sessions.
It was tedious at times with Silk and Cosgrove simply dead-batting much of Queensland's solid bowling led by Ryan Harris.
It took until the 77th over of the day for Tasmania to lose its first wicket when Cosgrove played a lax defensive shot to be bowled by Michael Neser.
Cosgrove was out for 58 from 217 deliveries with his opening partnership with Silk combining for 133 runs but taking 461 balls at a run rate of 1.7 an over.
That opened the door slightly for Queensland and Harris was quick to pounce with the second new ball picking up Doolan for six before Silk and Ponting safely took Tasmania to stumps at 2-176.
Silk is not out on 82 from 291 deliveries as the 20-year-old nears his second Shield century in just his third match. It might not have made for thrilling viewing, but he has shown outstanding temperament and will be glad to have the quality of Ponting at the other end with him.