States name new Matador squads

With the cancellation of Australia’s tour to Bangladesh, the Matador One-Day Cup has suddenly become the central focus for cricket fans around the country.

The tournament gets underway on Monday with a full round of action across Sydney, with each state (excluding South Australia, who were not represented in the 15-man Test squad) and the new addition of the Cricket Australia XI having announced their revised squads today.

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Here’s where the new-look Matador Cup squads are at:

New South Wales

Australia players returning: Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Peter Nevill, Nathan Lyon, Steve O’Keefe.

New squad: Steve Smith (c), Sean Abbott, Doug Bollinger, Ryan Carters, Ed Cowan, Moises Henriques, Nathan Lyon, Nic Maddinson, Peter Nevill, Steve O’Keefe, Kurtis Patterson, Gurinder Sandhu, Mitchell Starc, Shane Watson.

The Blues bring five Test players back into their squad while they’re also planning to welcome back Josh Hazlewood mid-tournament. The logistics of Hazlewood's return are still to be determined in terms of allowances regarding adding the paceman to the current 14-man squad.

Aside from Hazlewood, the unlucky players to miss out are Ryan Gibson, Chris Green, Josh Lalor and Ben Rohrer.

Queensland

Australia players returning: Joe Burns, Usman Khawaja.

New squad: Peter Forrest (c), Cameron Boyce, Joe Burns, Ben Cutting, Luke Feldman, Chris Hartley, Charlie Hemphrey, James Hopes, Usman Khawaja*, Simon Milenko, Michael Neser, Nathan Reardon, Billy Stanlake, Mark Steketee.
*Marnus Labuschagne (injury replacement).

Test pair Joe Burns and Usman Khawaja return, but not without a slight hiccup. Khawaja injured his hamstring while racking up a double century in grade cricket a fortnight ago, and will take his place for the back half of the Matador Cup. 

Bulls physiotherapist Martin Love said Queensland would follow the same course of recovery that Khawaja would have been part of had the tour to Bangladesh gone ahead.

"His return will be roughly the same time-frame as if the Test tour had gone ahead, so he will be training in Brisbane at the National Cricket Centre before heading to the two-day camp with the Australian team in Sydney from 13-14 October as he increases his workloads before playing again," Love said.

While Khawaja is sidelined, original selection Marnus Labuschagne will be part of the squad as an injury replacement following his approval yesterday by Cricket Australia.

Burns will come into the squad for wicketkeeper James Peirson, who returns to the CA XI squad having had been called into the Queensland squad as an injury replacement for Chris Lynn (shoulder) last week.

Peter Forrest will captain the side as planned in the absence of Khawaja.

Meanwhile, Queensland Cricket also announced that the Bulls will take their Sheffield Shield match with New South Wales on December 6-9 to Mackay.

“Regional Queensland has long been a breeding ground for players representing their state and country and it is great that we can help recognise their contribution,” Queensland Cricket chief executive Geoff Cockerill said.

Tasmania

Australia players returning: James Faulkner, Andrew Fekete.

New squad: George Bailey (c), Alex Doolan (vc), Jackson Bird, Xavier Doherty, Jake Doran, Ben Dunk, James Faulkner, Andrew Fekete, Evan Gulbis, Hamish Kingston, Dominic Michael, Tim Paine, Sam Rainbird, Clive Rose.

Tasmania were quick off the mark in re-naming their squad, recalling allrounder James Faulkner and paceman Andrew Fekete at the expense of young quick Ryan Lees.

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With Faulkner originally a late call-up to the Australia squad, the Tigers hadn’t named a replacement, so it’s just the one change for the men from the Apple Isle.

Victoria

Australia players returning: Glenn Maxwell, Peter Siddle.

New squad: Matthew Wade (c), Scott Boland, Dan Christian, Aaron Finch, Peter Handscomb, John Hastings, Jon Holland, Glenn Maxwell, Clint McKay, James Pattinson, Rob Quiney, Peter Siddle, Marcus Stoinis, Cameron White.

Enigmatic allrounder Glenn Maxwell and consistent quick Peter Siddle strengthen the Bushrangers squad considerably. The duo comes in for Ian Holland, of reality TV show 'Cricket Superstar' fame, and more surprisingly, leg-spinner Fawad Ahmed.

"We’ve identified Jon Holland as our number one limited-overs spinner and with Maxwell in the side to provide a second-spin option, Fawad was unfortunately the man to miss out,” Victorian chairman of selectors Andrew Lynch said.

"We still see Fawad as a key wicket-taker for the Bushrangers in first-class cricket, as evidenced by his record tally last season, and he will now return to Melbourne to get ready for the Sheffield Shield season which begins in four weeks by getting vital red-ball practice, with a Toyota Futures League fixture in Perth on October 19 also an option."

Western Australia

Australia players returning: Cameron Bancroft, Mitchell Marsh, Shaun Marsh, Adam Voges.

New squad: Adam Voges (c), Shaun Marsh (vc), Ashton Agar, Cameron Bancroft, Tom Beaton, Jason Behrendorff, William Bosisto, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Marcus Harris, Michael Klinger, Simon Mackin, Mitchell Marsh, Joel Paris, Jhye Richardson, Ashton Turner, Andrew Tye, Jon Wells, Sam Whiteman.

The Warriors are another side to benefit significantly by the cancellation of the Bangladesh tour, with impressive foursome Cameron Bancroft, Mitchell Marsh, Shaun Marsh and Adam Voges returning to the squad.

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Will Bosisto, Marcus Harris, Tom Beaton and Jonathan Wells drop out of the squad at their expense, with Harris and Bosisto joining the CA XI squad instead.

Voges led WA to the title in last year’s Matador Cup, and will take the captaincy reins back from stand-in skipper Michael Klinger, with Shaun Marsh his deputy.

In other news, pace bowler Nathan Rimmington has been ruled out of the tournament with a shoulder injury, meaning impressive young quick Jhye Richardson comes out of the CA XI and into the state squad.

Cricket Australia XI

New squad: Will Bosisto (c), Alex Gregory (vc), James Peirson, Ryan Lees, Marcus Harris, Seb Gotch, Matthew Short, Jack Wildermuth, James Bazley, Liam Hatcher, Mitch Swepson, Hilton Cartwright, Riley Ayre, Matthew Dixon. 

WA batsmen Marcus Harris and Will Bosisto, Queensland wicketkeeper Jimmy Peirson and Tasmanian quick Ryan Lees have been selected in the revised CA XI. They replace Sam Heazlett (QLD), Josh Inglis (WA) and Ben McDermott (TAS), while 19-year-old quick Jhye Richardson has been called up to the WA squad to replace the injured Nathan Rimmington.

"It’s disappointing the tour of Bangladesh has been postponed, but the bonus is that it will be a full strength Matador Cup with all the best cricketers in Australia playing and putting their case forward," said CA national talent manager Greg Chappell. "That’s positive for the competition and will make for an exciting tournament.

"Some state players became available to make way for the returning Australian Test players, so the CA XI squad has been revised to include some of these players. This includes former Australian U19 World Cup captain Will Bosisto, who comes into the CA XI squad as captain, with Alex Gregory vice-captain.

"The new CA XI team in the Matador Cup is a great opportunity for these high-potential players to grow their experience and play leading roles.

"Unfortunately the revised squad means some players missed out, but they know they are on the radar and there will be a number of tour matches involving a CA XI team against New Zealand and the West Indies during the summer for players to push for selection."