Opener Phil Jaques put a bright note on his otherwise gloomy summer but Tasmania took the ultimate honours and kept its slim final hopes alive in the domestic one-day competition.

Chasing 182 to win, Xavier Doherty (16no) and Damien Wright (9no) guided the Tigers across the line for a three-wicket victory with 17 balls to spare in overcast conditions at Telstra Stadium.

There was plenty of passion shown in the encounter with some heated exchanges between Wright and paceman Scott Coyte in the final overs.

The result lifted Tasmania (8 matches 17 points) into equal third spot on the limited overs table with Western Australia (7, 17).

Victoria and Queensland still share top spot on 22 points after eight matches.

Jaques (54) earlier topscored in testing conditions in an encouraging sign for the left-hander as NSW stumbled to 9-181 from its 45 overs.

The left-hander has slipped out of the national selection frame and averaged just over 20 in domestic one-dayers this summer and his knock was timely before this week's Pura Cup clash against the Tigers at the SCG.

The start of the match was delayed by an hour because of wet patches on the pitch and the contest reduced to 45 overs a side with the visitors sending the home side into bat.

Tasmania's attack took advantage of bowling first on the damp deck and paceman Ben Hilfenhaus (2-26 off nine overs) kept his name in the minds of selectors with another strong performance.

The former bricklayer was well supported by Wright (2-36 off nine overs), young buck Brendan Drew (1-35) and spinner Xavier Doherty (1-36 off nine overs).

In reply, the Tigers made a strong start to the run chase before Michael Di Venuto (32) was out trying to loft spinner Nathan Hauritz with the total on 66, the left-armer skying a simple catch to Moises Henriques at mid-off.

The Tasmanian innings continued along uninterrupted before Doug Bollinger found the edge of man of the match Tim Paine (43 off 78 balls) to breathe life in the home side's defence.

NSW was then handed a slice of luck with the in-form Michael Dighton (11) lofting David Warner's gentle off-spinner straight to Hauritz.

George Bailey stabilised the innings before Dane Anderson was deceived by Hauritz to give the Blues a sniff at 4-125.

The Tigers moved within 32 runs of the total before Travis Birt (7) and Dan Marsh (0) fell in the space of three Bollinger deliveries as the visitors chased a valuable bonus point.

Then with the bonus point out of reach, Bailey (42 off 35) had a brain fade trying to pick off a second run off Hauritz's arm and he was caught short of his ground.

Blues off-spinner Hauritz (2-37 off nine overs) and paceman Doug Bollinger (3-30 off nine) did their best to defend the small target of 182 but it was not enough in the end.

Paine's man of the match award was a fitting reward for the gloveman who had a fine day behind the stumps along with his valuable 43.

Tasmanian captain Dan Marsh said his side was just not able to keep up the tempo to register a crucial bonus point against the Blues, who were realistically out of the running for the final before now.

"Mathematically we can (still make the final)," said Marsh.

"We will take each match as it comes and hopefully we can put in a good batting and bowling effort because you never know what can happen in this game."

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