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Magnificent day's cricket. Terrific inning from Whiteman. We'll know a lot more about where this game is going after the first session tomorrow.

Special thanks to the WACA for putting on a steady background of industrial noise all day. FMD you don't reckon they could have taken a couple of days off for the premier sporting event of the cricket calendar? It was fkn irritating being there listening to it all fkn day - augurs. pile drivers, compactors etc etc. WACA trying to out do the numpties in NSW who put on the one day final. 

I think Tasmania would be the happier of the two teams at stumps. WA's opening partnership of 110 had the apple islanders staring down the barrel of 450 but they fought back admirably to restrict the score. Freeman, who has the look of a park cricketer who would spend more time in the pub than the nets bowled very well to dismiss Hardie, Goodwin and Cartwright which were vital wickets in the context of the day.

Whiteman batted wonderfully well and there were useful contributions from Short, Cartwright and debutant Connelly who really pushed up WAs score in the last session when at one stage it looked like they may have been bowled out for less than 300.

As Dazzler said, we can't judge how good or bad a score is until both teams have batted on the surface so it will be fascinating to see how the Tasmanian batsmen handle the WA attack tomorrow. The pitch seemed to be offering something to the bowlers today and when the Tassies bowled consistent line and length they looked threatening.

First job for WA in the morning is to try and bat till the 100th over and accumulate as many batting points as they can.  Current bonus points are WA - 1.25 and Tasmania 0.8  .
Gannon is a decent batsman and you never know if he can hang around for an hour he might help Connelly to make a century on debut, now wouldn't that be something in a shield final!

The ground looked like a dump, several times players had to venture on to the building site to retrieve balls

a very welcome late bunch of wickets has swung this markedly
BUT
this is only day 2 and there is still 4 in the shed 
Tasmania were very obviously going to bat WA out of the game there was not much urgency or enterprise
day 3 is the big one 

Bonus point update at the end of day 2

WA: 2.07
Tas 0.9

There are 25 overs left tomorrow to gain bonus points. If WA bowl Tasmania out before the 100th over, which given the early availability of the new ball is a distinct possibility, WA will move up to 2.47. Even if the Tasmanians don't lose a wicket in overs 76 to 100, they would have to get to 318 by the end of the 100 overs to get past WA's tally of bonus points, thats another 166 runs in 25 overs at nearly 7 rpo. Add another 10 for every wicket they lose. I think we can probably say that's unlikely.
So by lunchtime tomorrow we will know that a draw will be good enough for WA. 
From Tasmania's point of view they would be better off forgetting about the bonus points and try to dig in and frustrate the WA bowlers. There are still 3 days left and If they could somehow get the lead down to less than 100, this would put a little bit of pressure on the WA batting line up in the 3rd innings and anything could happen. Don't forget the Tassies chased down 400+ against Queensland at Hobart earlier in the season. 
However if WA are able to bowl them out quickly for a lead of 150 or more, they should be able to bat Tasmania out of the game.

the larger than life lady is getting to her feet and clearing her voice
barring a startling batting collapse by WA
there is a very good chance Tasmania will concede sometime in the afternoon session

Tasmania are on the rack and WA now need to be ruthless and bat them into oblivion tomorrow. If they can bat to lunch they will be around 500 in front, at tea it will be 600. I wouldnt be declaring and giving them a sniff.
Its been such a comprehensive, professional performance by the team in the first 3 days and they will hopefully put the game to bed tomorrow.

Been a great performance from the Warriers.This result looks similar to the late 1990's Shield Final.
Last time Tasmania played Wa in the Shield final at the Waca.

Tasmania 3/31 at the time of writing. Good to see loudmouth Wade dismissed early again along with Jewell and Wakim (good name for a cricketer.)

 

large lady in the stand has made her way to her feet
blown her ample nose on the pink polkadot handkerchief
and is giving the most distinct impression yet that she will clear her throat directly 

Just about done, 2 wickets to go. Must be one of the most one sided shield finals ever