Steven Smith and Mitchell Starc will play for New South Wales against Victoria in the Sheffield Shield at the MCG from Sunday as they ramp up preparations for the international summer.
Sean Abbott will also return for NSW after sitting out the opening round after picking up a minor injury late in the England tour while Nathan Lyon, who took eight wickets against South Australia, will again feature.
Victoria have named Scott Boland in what shapes as a fascinating contest with 19-year-old opener Sam Konstas who was called up to the Australia A squad earlier this week after his twin hundreds against South Australia.
Victoria captain Will Sutherland has also been named after bowling 15 overs and making an unbeaten 104 in Victoria’s second XI match against Queensland this week. Glenn Maxwell also played in that game, returning scores of 14 and 10 and bowling eight overs across the four days. Maxwell and Matthew Short have not been included in the Shield squad to face NSW but are both expected to return for the One-Day fixture next Friday ahead of the ODI series against Pakistan. Maxwell is could play at least one Shield match for Victoria after the limited overs series against Pakistan as he continues to build his case for a Test recall on next year’s tour of Sri Lanka.
Starc last played a Shield match in the 2020-21 final against Queensland while Smith’s previous outing was against Victoria in February 2021.
Matthew Gilkes, Ryan Hadley and Liam Hatcher drop out of the group that drew with South Australia at Cricket Central earlier this month.
Further squads will be named in the coming days.
New South Wales squad Sean Abbott, Jackson Bird, Ollie Davies, Jack Edwards, Moises Henriques, Sam Konstas, Nathan Lyon, Nic Maddinson, Jack Nisbet, Josh Philippe, Tanveer Sangha, Steven Smith, Mitchell Starc
Victoria squad Will Sutherland (c), Scott Boland, Ash Chandrasinghe, Sam Elliott, Peter Handscomb, Sam Harper, Marcus Harris, Campbell Kellaway, Cam McClure, Jon Merlo, Todd Murphy, Fergus O’Neill, Tom Rogers
