Both Western Warriors and New South Wales welcome back international representatives as the final round of this season’s Sheffield Shield begins with the top of the table log-jammed.
With four teams capable of making and hosting the one-v-two final, a Western Australia win would have the state host its first Shield final since the 1997-98 season.
First Test centurion Shaun Marsh enters the Warriors line-up in place of his younger brother Mitch (side injury), while Nathan Lyon and Steve Smith return for the Blues.
“This was going to be such a huge game and to have Shaun back for us and Nathan Lyon and Steve Smith back for New South Wales, it’s great to see the international players back in State Cricket,” said Warriors coach Justin Langer. “It raises the standard of the competition and that’s got to be good for everyone.
“For our young blokes to play against the international players, it’s very good.”
The temptation will be for all teams sneaking a peek at progress elsewhere as their own games continue.
“It’s hard not to do that and we’re all human, so we’ll have one eye on the other games,” Langer admitted. “The reality is, if we win this game, we’ll go through and host the Sheffield Shield final and that’s what we have to put our attention on.
“I learnt a lesson from a very young age - the moment you start worrying about other players and other teams, then you usually take both eyes off the ball.
“We’ll be concentrating on getting six points and that will be enough to get us over the line.”
“History might say (it’s a challenging wicket to get 20 wickets on), but we’ve got two very good bowling attacks,” Langer continued when asked about the flat-deck reputation of the Manuka Oval. “New South Wales has got a pretty long tail, so we’ve got to work hard, stick in, we’ve been disciplined all year and our fielding’s been pretty good all year.
“When we bat, we’ve got to make sure we turn a good innings into a great innings and cash in.
“It’s a pretty simple philosophy, there’s no magic dust, we know we have to work hard.
“We always have to work hard against New South Wales and the competition’s so tough that you’ve got to work hard against any team.
“We’re ready for that, we’ve worked hard all season and throughout the summer.”
Western Warriors v New South Wales Blues: Adam Voges ©, Ashton Agar, Cameron Bancroft, Jason Behrendorff, Ryan Duffield, Marcus Harris, Michael Hogan, Shaun Marsh, Marcus North, Nathan Rimmington, Ashton Turner, Sam Whiteman.
James Buttler
As the editor of World Cricket Badger he is intent on building the website to give quality coverage of the domestic game around the world.
He is also the presenter of the Cricket Badger Radio Show on Radio Yorkshire every Tuesday evening between 7-9pm UK time.
James was the full-time Media Manager at Yorkshire County Cricket Club between 2007 and 2010.
James is a published author, a writer/video contributor to many cricket publications and a complete cricket badger!
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