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Tasmania reached 7-258 at stumps on the opening day of their Sheffield Shield clash with NSW, as Tim Paine finished unbeaten on 61.

Tim Paine hit a valuable half-century to prop up Tasmania on day one of their Sheffield Shield clash with NSW.

The Test skipper was unbeaten on 61 at stumps on Saturday at Bellerive Oval as the home side reached 7-258 after being sent in to bat.

The Tigers' top order all got starts against a strong NSW attack but only Paine and Matthew Wade (57) went on to register half-centuries.

"Any time you're sent in at Bellerive and you end up 250-plus, you probably say you had a pretty decent day," Paine said.

He shared a 67-run stand with Beau Webster (30) for the sixth wicket after the pair came together with their side in a wobbly position at 5-171.

Paine brought up his half-century with a boundary off Mitchell Starc through point.

"It was certainly better than yesterday's net (session)," he said.

"Could not put bat on ball, so we decided to call it quits (and) come back with a fresh approach and it seemed to work. Sometimes that happens."

Paine had a lucky break late in the day when he was dropped in the slips off Starc.

The left-arm quick picked up 3-65, removing Webster and tailender Jarrod Freeman (duck) with the second new ball in the shadows of stumps.

Trent Copeland toiled hard early and finished with 2-67, which included the scalps of openers Jordan Silk (10) and Charlie Wakim (28).

The Blues lost paceman Sean Abbott early in the day when he split the webbing in his hand fielding off his own bowling.

Test spinner Nathan Lyon (1-43) took the big wicket of Wade in the middle session when the veteran edged to first slip.

Tasmania, chasing their first win of the Shield season without the injured Ben McDermott and Nathan Ellis, crawled to 1-63 at lunch.

The second-placed Blues have rested David Warner, Josh Hazlewood and Moises Henriques but welcomed back Daniel Hughes, who missed their last match with a shoulder problem.