Smith, Cummins, Starc and Hazlewood are being set for the second Shield round against Victoria at the MCG, which will also be
Scott Boland‘s first match of the season for Victoria as he is being rested from the opening round while he builds up his bowling loads following off-season foot and knee problems. There is a chance, though, that Australia’s big three quicks might not play at all for New South Wales and will instead use the ODI series against Pakistan to build up for the India Test series.
Cameron Green won’t play for Western Australia against Queensland due to his back injury and
it is still to be determined how long he will be out for.
Mitchell Marsh and
Aaron Hardie are set to play but as batters only with both players having their red-ball bowling loads built-up carefully given Green’s injury. It leaves Western Australia with a challenge of balancing their XI with Cricket Australia contracted quicks
Lance Morris and
Jhye Richardson unavailable while experienced seamer
Joel Paris will also miss with a calf issue. Morris is a chance to play in round two for WA but Richardson is not expected to be available for Shield cricket until after the BBL as he is being carefully managed due to his recent injury history.
The state teams are being severely challenged at present as they plan for the opening four rounds due to the huge injury toll amongst Australia’s contracted and fringe players and the scheduling of two Australia A-India A matches in late October and early November on top of the ODI and T20I series against Pakistan.
The careful management of Australia’s Test stars and players on the fringes like Boland, Morris and now Hardie, combined with the injury toll that includes Green, Short, Abbott, Ben Dwarshuis (pectoral), Xavier Bartlett (side), Nathan Ellis (hamstring), Spencer Johnson (hamstring) and Riley Meredith (side), means that most state teams will have major turnover in their XIs across the first month of the season.
Queensland squad vs WA: Marnus Labuschagne (c), Jack Clayton, Liam Guthrie, Lachlan Hearne, Usman Khawaja, Ben McDermott, Michael Neser, Jimmy Peirson, Matthew Renshaw, Mark Steketee, Tom Straker, Mitchell Swepson, Jack Wildermuth
