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Shield round to honour Hughes

NSW players gear up for emotional match at SCG as Queensland visit for key Shield clash

Twelve months on from the death of Phillip Hughes and there aren't many days he isn't on the mind of Australia's domestic cricketers - especially those from NSW and his adopted state of South Australia.

The Blues take on Queensland in what shapes as an emotional Sheffield Shield clash at the SCG starting Friday, the anniversary of Hughes's death. The West End Redbacks are in Tasmania where they will face the Tigers at Blundstone Arena. 

The incident in which Hughes was felled by a bouncer during the NSW-SA clash and died two days later in a Sydney hospital is still raw for many players.

The Blues match will be played at the same ground at which Hughes was hit and many of the NSW players who were on the field at the time will turn out against the myFootDr Bulls.

All Shield players around the country will wear black armbands in memorial, as will the Australia and New Zealand players during the Adelaide day-night Test.

Quick Single: Adelaide plans to honour Hughes

As difficult as it might be, NSW captain Moises Henriques says they're trying to treat Friday as just another day.

"For the guys that are closest to him, every day has been a tough day," Henriques said. "Tomorrow is just another one.

"He's not just someone you forget about. It's not like it's a reminder for a lot of the guys in the team, that's something you play with every day, having (lost) one of the blokes that you played with and loved."

Blues players Nic Maddinson, Doug Bollinger, Stephen O'Keefe and Sean Abbott were all on the field when Hughes was hit and have been named in the NSW squad for the clash with Queensland.

O'Keefe has been named in an extended Test squad and could fly to Sydney in time to play in the Shield should he be excluded from the Australian XI for the Adelaide Test.

The game is also a pressing one for NSW after their match against Victoria was abandoned, and the Bushrangers awarded all six points, and their loss to Tasmania last week.

After an ill-fated fortnight, they are in fourth, behind Queensland, and hungry to get back in contention for a top two finish.

Quick Single: Bulls name young leggie for Shield

Rookie leg-spinner Mitchell Swepson is in line to make his Shield debut against NSW after being selected in Queensland's squad.

The 22-year-old is not a contracted Bulls player, but his performances this summer have been enough to force his way into the 12-man squad for the match.

Swepson has got the nod ahead of Australia's T20 leg-spinner Cameron Boyce, who played in Queensland's opening Shield match of the season against Victoria but was omitted after taking 0-140 in 32.2 overs.

Off-spinning allrounder Jason Floros has carried the spin duties in Queensland's two Shield matches since then. Boyce was this week included in Queensland's Future's League side and found the going tough there as well, taking 1-120 from 22 overs as Western Australia amassed 8-450.

Quick Single: SCG given all clear for Shield clash

The match will also be the first game back at the SCG after their clash against Tasmania was moved to Bankstown Oval due to concerns over the playing surface at the Test venue, which led to the abandonment of the Bushrangers clash.

In other Shield news, Western Australia will be boosted by the return of star allrounder Nathan Coulter-Nile for their Shield clash with Victoria at the WACA Ground tomorrow.

Coulter-Nile missed the start of the Shield season because of a shoulder injury, but his return bolsters a line-up that will be missing Shaun Marsh, who is with the Australian Test side.

Joel Paris, Ashton Turner, and Jon Wells were also called into the 12-man squad, with Hilton Cartwright, Marcus Harris, and David Moody omitted.

Paceman Andrew Fekete is back in Tasmania's line-up for their Sheffield Shield clash with South Australia, with international James Faulkner out injured.

Fekete, who was selected for Australia's cancelled tour of Bangladesh in September, was dropped from the Tigers' last round clash with team management saying he needed to correct a technique issue.

"He's doing the right things in the nets so we're keen to see how it goes in a game situation," said Marsh, who has previously detailed how Fekete wasn't getting enough height before releasing the ball.

Tigers coach Dan Marsh said 25-year-old Faulkner had struggled with the toe problem for some time and it had become more troublesome despite nothing showing up on scans.

"He's had it since the first game of the year and we've been trying to get him through game after game, and obviously it's started to affect his knee, so the way he's started to walk," Marsh told reporters ahead of the shield match at Blundstone Arena starting on Friday.

"We're hoping it's only going to be a short-term thing, hopefully a quick turnaround."

Marsh said the toe injury caused Faulkner problems during Tasmania's last-round, 223-run win over NSW in Sydney.

"Once his toe has healed he can go back to wearing (and) being comfortable in his shoes which will then make him walk okay," the coach said.

"It's not a huge issue but we just felt he couldn't get through this game."

Batsman Dominic Michael is named in the squad while spinner Clive Rose, who helped Tassie to a 223-run win over NSW, is out.

The Redbacks welcome back Daniel Worrall who has missed the past two rounds with a hamstring injury.

But experienced quick Kane Richardson did not cross Bass Strait as he recovers from a quadricep strain.

NSW squad: Moises Henriques, Sean Abbott, Doug Bollinger, Ryan Carters, Ed Cowan, Josh Lalor, Jay Lenton, Nic Maddinson, Stephen O'Keefe, Kurtis Patterson, Ben Rohrer, Gurinder Sandhu, Will Somerville.

Queensland squad: Chris Hartley, Ben Cutting, Jason Floros, Sam Heazlett, Scott Henry, James Hopes, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Reardon, Matthew Renshaw, Mark Steketee, Mitch Swepson, Jack Wildermuth.

Western Australia squad: Michael Klinger, Ashton Agar, Cameron Bancroft, Tom Beaton, Jason Behrendorff, Will Bosisto, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Michael Hogan, Joel Paris, Ashton Turner, Andrew Tye, Jonathon Wells, Sam Whiteman.

Tasmania squad: George Bailey, Alex Doolan, Jackson Bird, Xavier Doherty, Jake Doran, Ben Dunk, Tom Triffitt, Andrew Fekete, Dominic Michael, Beau Webster, Jackson Rainbird, Hamish Kingston.

South Australia squad: Travis Head, Nick Benton, Tom Cooper, Mark Cosgrove, Callum Ferguson, Jake Lehmann, Tim Ludeman, Joe Mennie, Alex Ross, Chadd Sayers, Daniel Worrall, Adam Zampa.