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October 21, 2024
Young opener Sam Konstas will take on Scott Boland at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) after Victoria selected Boland for his first game of the summer.
In the Sheffield Shield match starting Sunday at the MCG, New South Wales (NSW) will see the return of Steven Smith and Mitchell Starc as they prepare for the international summer. However, Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood will not participate in this match, though they are expected to play in the One-Day Cup at Junction Oval on October 25. Cummins is not likely to play any red-ball cricket before the Test series against India, and Hazlewood may also sit out the Shield match due to the overlap with the ODI series against Pakistan.
Sean Abbott is back for NSW after missing the first round because of a minor injury sustained during the England tour. Nathan Lyon, who took eight wickets against South Australia, will also play.
Victoria’s captain, Will Sutherland, has been included in the squad after performing well in a second XI match against Queensland, where he bowled 15 overs and scored an unbeaten 104. Glenn Maxwell, who also played in that match with scores of 14 and 10 and bowled eight overs over four days, is not in the Shield squad but is expected to return for the One-Day Cup next Friday before the ODI series against Pakistan.
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Maxwell may participate in at least one Shield match for Victoria after the limited-overs series against Pakistan as he aims for a Test recall during next year’s tour of Sri Lanka.
Starc’s last Shield match was in the 2020-21 final against Queensland, while Smith last played against Victoria in February 2021.
In other news, Travis Head has been rested from South Australia’s squad for their match against Queensland at Allan Border Field in Brisbane due to the upcoming birth of his second child. Jake Fraser-McGurk missed selection for the opening Shield round, and Jake Lehmann has been named as Head’s replacement after scoring 173 for South Australia’s second XI in their recent loss to Western Australia. Fraser-McGurk scored 28 off 13 balls and 30 off 22 balls in that same match.
Queensland quick Xavier Bartlett is nearing a return to cricket following the serious side strain he suffered on the tour of the UK but won’t play any Shield cricket until late November at the earliest.
“I’ll probably play some premier cricket for the Gold Coast. I’ve got one eye on the T20 series against Pakistan, and then we’ve got some Shield cricket and one day cricket with Queensland leading into the Big Bash as well,” he said.
Western Australia has named allrounder Aaron Hardie for their match against Tasmania in Perth. However, Hardie will play only as a batter while his bowling workload is managed. Mitchell Marsh indicated that he expects to bowl during the game.
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