A trio of Test stars have been included in a 13-player NSW Men’s Team squad for the second round of the 2024/25 Sheffield Shield against Victoria at the MCG, starting on Sunday (20/10).
Test stars in for Blues’ MCG Shield quest
Steve Smith and Mitchell Starc will join Nathan Lyon in the squad that also includes World Cup winner Sean Abbott and former Test seamer Jackson Bird. Lyon is the only player from that quintet to have already played for the Blues this summer.
Starc last played Shield for NSW in the final of the 20/21 season, where the Blues went down to Queensland, while Smith last represented the state in first class cricket in the 19/20 summer.
Matthew Gilkes, Ryan Hadley and Liam Hatcher drop out of the group that drew with South Australia at Cricket Central earlier this month.
Moises Henriques will captain the team that also includes Josh Philippe, Ollie Davies and Sam Konstas following that trio’s selection this week in the Australia A side for a pair of matches against India A.
Josh Hazlewood and Pat Cummins were not considered for the Shield match but are likely to play in NSW’s One-Day Cup fixture against Victoria at CitiPower Centre in Melbourne next Friday (25/10).
Both matches can be seen live on Kayo and cricket.com.au, with the ODC game also on Fox Cricket.
Sheffield Shield: NSW Blues vs Victoria – 10.30am on Sunday 20/10 – Wednesday 23/10 at MCG: Sean Abbott, Jackson Bird, Ollie Davies, Jack Edwards, Moises Henriques ©, Sam Konstas, Nathan Lyon, Nic Maddinson, Jack Nisbet, Josh Philippe, Tanveer Sangha, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc