No shock Matador return for star pair

NSW Blues opener Daniel Hughes is expected to miss tomorrow's Matador BBQs One-Day Cup final against Queensland, while the Blues have also ruled out a shock return for Test captain Steve Smith and his deputy David Warner.

Hughes was struck on the helmet during the elimination final against Victoria last night and forced to sit out the rest of the match under Cricket Australia's new Concussion and Head Trauma Policy, introduced this season after an independent review into the death of Phillip Hughes (no relation to Daniel) two years ago.

The left-hander will undergo more concussion tests today, but Blues skipper Moises Henriques says the in-form opener is "unlikely" to play in the tournament decider at North Sydney Oval.

If Hughes is ruled out as expected, Kurtis Patterson is the most likely option to move up the order and open the batting alongside Ed Cowan.

Henriques also dismissed a suggestion that Smith and Warner were a chance to play in the final, with the pair to manage some niggling injuries and instead tune-up for the first Commonwealth Bank Test against South Africa on November 3-7 with a Sheffield Shield match in Brisbane next week.

Test quick Josh Hazlewood will also miss the final as his bowling workloads are carefully managed ahead of the Test summer, while Patrick Cummins has been cleared to play.

Hazlewood's absence means Test spinner Nathan Lyon, who was surprisingly left out of yesterday's elimination final, is set to come back into the side.

Henriques says Lyon's omission was due in part to the number of right-handed batsman in Victoria's top-order, adding the off-spinner was set for a big summer despite a tough few months that included a series defeat in Sri Lanka and saw him lose his place in Australia's one-day international side.

"I love playing cricket with Nathan Lyon," Henriques said.

"He's a great bloke, he's good to have around the squad, he's always got good spirits in the change room and the team is always better for having him around.

"He's a world-class off-spinner. He's a very big chance to come back and play tomorrow."

The match between the two traditional rivals will have a State of Origin feel after the Bulls stunned most pundits by winning five out of their six preliminary matches to advance straight through to the final.

Queensland have been without captain Usman Khawaja (international duty) for most of the tournament, while powerful batsman Chris Lynn has also missed out due to a shoulder injury.

Apart from Khawaja, the only Bulls player in the tournament to have played for Australia in the past two years is recently-axed Test batsman Joe Burns.

But despite their relatively unheralded group of players, the Bulls have lost just one match  - notably, against NSW by four wickets.

"I guess we just scrapped and won those close games early on," Khawaja said ahead of the clash against his former state.

"We won the first two games, which were close, and got a bit of momentum that way. We lost one but then had a really good chase last game against Victoria, so we've scrapped really well and played some really good cricket at the right time.

"It's always nice to play against New South Wales. You always know they're going to come quite hard.

"Hopefully we'll get a bit of a crowd ... and it's a good spectacle."

The final will get underway at the earlier time of 9.30am AEDT, with live coverage on the Nine Network, cricket.com.au and the Cricket Australia Live App.