Hughes recovers from ankle injury to captain NSW

Veteran batter Daniel Hughes will captain NSW in the Marsh Sheffield Shield for the first time after a remarkable recovery from an ankle injury that threatened to curtail his Big Bash campaign.

With regular NSW skipper Kurtis Patterson recovering from broken finger, and previous captains Moises Henriques selected in the Australia T20 squad and wicketkeeper-batter Peter Nevill nursing a shoulder injury, Hughes will lead a young and inexperienced side when the Shield season resumes on Wednesday.

Also missing from their clash against Queensland at the Gabba will be allrounder Sean Abbott who was ruled out with a side strain, which leaves just 90 combined matches of first-class experience after Hughes' 58, Trent Copeland's 107, and Chris Tremain's 66.

Hughes suffered a left ankle lateral ligament injury when he tripped over the boundary rope while practicing high catches during the warm-up of the Sydney Sixers' KFC BBL|11 Qualifier final clash against the Perth Scorchers last month.

He missed that game and their next one against the Adelaide Strikers five days later before returning to play through pain in the decider, where he made 42 in a losing cause that handed the Scorchers a record fourth Big Bash crown.

Cricket NSW Head of Male Cricket, Michael Klinger, said the left-hander's ankle had showed "significant improvement" since last Friday.

"At the end of last week, we weren’t 100 per cent sure that Daniel would be right to play, but over the weekend he's seemed to have improved quite a bit," Klinger said.

"He was able to bat and run well today, and apart from being picked to play in the game Daniel also has the opportunity to captain the team.

"Daniel adds that bit of experience to quite a young and exciting batting line-up, and it's going to be interesting to see how they go."

The 32-year-old was in fine form during the first stages of the Sheffield Shield season before BBL|11, with scores of 59, 89 and 70 in their three matches against Victoria.

Breakout Big Bash stars Jason Sangha and Hayden Kerr have also been included in the NSW squad, while uncapped batter Ryan Hackney and bowler Ryan Hadley are in line to make their first-class debuts if selected in the final XI.

Meanwhile, experienced Tasmanian Tigers batter Jordan Silk will likely miss their first Shield match after the break, which isn't until February 18 against NSW at the SCG.

The 29-year-old right-hander injured his hamstring while also playing for the Sixers in BBL|11 and missed the final against the Scorchers.

Fast bowlers Nathan Ellis and Riley Meredith, who both sustained side injuries during the Big Bash for the Hurricanes, are targeting a return in the Marsh One-Day Cup matches also against NSW in late February.

Former Australian Test captain Tim Paine is also no closer to a return to cricket with Tasmania confirming he remains on an indefinite leave of absence after details of a sexting scandal became public in November.

In better news for the Tigers, experienced seamer Jackson Bird appears set to play his first Shield game of the season after overcoming an Achilles injury during the BBL.

South Australia today named Ashes player of the series Travis Head in their squad to face Victoria at the Adelaide Oval on Wednesday after he was released from Australia's T20 squad for the first three matches of the five-game series against Sri Lanka.

He will line-up alongside Test wicketkeeper Alex Carey, while paceman Brendan Doggett has also been named in the Redbacks' squad after missing the backend of 2021 with a side strain injury.

NSW squad v Queensland: Daniel Hughes (c), Harry Conway, Trent Copeland, Jack Edwards, Matthew Gilkes, Ryan Hackney, Ryan Hadley, Baxter Holt, Hayden Kerr, Jason Sangha, Tanveer Sangha, Chris Tremain

South Australia squad v Victoria: Travis Head (c), Alex Carey (vc)(wk), Jake Carder, Brendan Doggett, Daniel Drew, David Grant, Henry Hunt, Nathan McAndrew, Lloyd Pope, Liam Scott, Jake Weatherald, Nick Winter