Rob Forsaith at the Gabba
A scintillating display of swing bowling from Queenslanders Chris Swan and Scott Walter was matched by Tasmanian dynamo Brett Geeves to ensure the scrap for first-innings points would remain in the balance at stumps on day one of the Sheffield Shield clash at the Gabba.
Swan, playing his first match for the summer after being sidelined with a groin injury, and third-gamer Walter made use of the overcast conditions to hoop the ball around with much venom and restrict the Tigers to a modest total of 156.
Left-armer Walter was the deadliest of the pair, claiming figures of 4-30 from 16 overs as the Tigers collapsed to be 3-6 and then 5-27 before Geeves saved face by top-scoring with 40.
The hosts started brightly but suffered a sharp collapse, losing 4-29 before finally finishing at 4-75, still 82 runs shy of banking early points.
Unfortunately for Tasmania, much of the cloud cover that Walter and Swan earlier worked to perfection had since cleared and the Bulls batsmen found the conditions to be a lot more favourable.
However Geeves snared figures of 3-25 from 11 sharp overs, bowling a niggling line that proved too much for Wade Townsend (eight), Lee Carseldine (three) and inform opener Ryan Broad (30)
Townsend was drawn into an ill-fated drive that gave keeper Brady Jones a regulation catch, while Carseldine and Broad had their stumps skittled.
Broad, who had been his side's most impressive batsman in a mature knock where he offered the one life when on 23, bizarrely shouldered arms to see the Bulls tumble to 4-60.
Glen Batticciotto (seven not out) and Chris Hartley (four not out) were able to show the pluck required.
Earlier, Geeves helped add a degree of respectability to the visitors' total, but he received little support, with Luke Butterworth (22) and Brendan Drew (29) the only other men to make it past 20.
Walter was dominant from the start, claiming figures of 3-16 from his seven-over opening spell, including the scalp of Tigers captain George Bailey, who won the toss and elected to bat despite the cloud cover.
The 20-year-old continued his hot form for the season, picking up the wicket of opener Jonathan Wells with his third delivery before producing a remarkable in-swinging yorker that Alex Doolan could do little about.
Tigers opener Ed Cowan was handed a life on two, but he failed to add to that score and had his leg stump disturbed soon after by Swan.
Swan ended the innings with the tidy figures of 3-45, including the wicket of Butterworth, who was trapped lbw by an impressive ball that dipped late.
Ben Cutting, no stranger to swing bowling himself, chipped in with the wickets of danger-man Dan Marsh (15) and keeper Brady Jones (18).
Geeves was the steadying influence for his side, combing with Drew in a 42-run stand that was comfortably their side's best partnership, both statistically and stylistically.
The 27-year-old eventually fell to the medium-pace of part-timer Lee Carseldine when a mistimed drive saw the ball land in the lap of Walter at mid-off.
The hosts saw off the new ball and appeared to be cruising at 0-31 before Tim MacDonald made the initial breakthrough when he had Nick Kruger (13) out edging.
Tasmania 1st innings 156
Queensland 1st innings
Kruger b Krejza b MacDonald 13 (30)
Broad b Geeves 30 (68)
Townsend c Jones b Geeves 8 (26)
Carseldine b Geeves 3 (14)
Batticciotto not out 7 (36)
Hartley not out 4 (13)
Extras: 10 (lb 3, nb 7)
Total: 75 (4 wickets ; 30 overs)
FoW: 1-31, 2-48, 3-57, 4-60,
Bowling:
Geeves 11- 4 - 25 - 3 (7nb)
Butterworth 8 - 1 - 18 - 0
MacDonald 8 - 1 - 24 - 1
Krejza 2 - 1 - 1 - 0
Drew 1 - 0 - 4 - 0