Son of a gun arrives for the Bulls

Image courtesy of auraimages.com.au

Young gun Ben McDermott has been named in the myFoot Dr Queensland Bulls squad for tomorrow’s Matador One-Day Cup preliminary final against NSW Blues.

McDermott, son of former Australia tearaway and current Bupa Support Team bowling coach Craig McDermott, replaces star injured batsman Usman Khawaja after the opener was ruled out with a fractured little finger he damaged while fielding in the one-run win over the Alcohol.Think Again Western Warriors yesterday.

The 19-year-old flew to Sydney this morning to train with the Bulls squad ahead of the do-or-die clash with the Blues. The keeper-batsman represented Australia at Under-19 level last year and also got his first taste of domestic cricket when he played two matches for the Brisbane Heat in the KFC T20 Big Bash League.

Khawaja is a major loss for defending champions Queensland, with the Sunshine State on the hunt for a hat-trick of one-day domestic titles.

The elegant left-hander is the tournament’s leading run-scorer with 523 runs at 74.71 and has formed an imposing opening partnership with wicketkeeper Chris Hartley.

The pair have combined for a staggering 825 runs at the top of the Bulls order, averaging 117.86 each time they walk out together.

"It is a shame and that will be a substantial hole to fill," said Bulls skipper James Hopes on the loss of his one-day run machine.

"They (Khawaja and Hartley) have laid a platform for us all season, and did the same thing last year. When they do that and our hitters get in, we normally do well."

Hopes has also concerns heading into the preliminary final.

"Our bowling has been scratchy to be honest," Hopes said. "We haven't quite found the right combination, which is not the right thing to be saying when we are eight games into the tournament.

"We have chopped and changed with the new ball, though we have played in a lot of varying conditions.

"You would like to think by now we would be close to having our options sorted at the death (of the innings)."

While Queensland farewell one Australian Test player for the sudden-death clash at Blacktown International Sportpark, NSW welcome back a Test star of their own in allrounder Shane Watson.

Watson was ruled out of the VB tour of the UAE with a calf injury but played club cricket last weekend for Sutherland and was on Monday named in Australia’s T20 squad to take on South Africa in three matches starting on November 5 at the revamped Adelaide Oval. 

The 52-Test veteran replaces top-order batsman Scott Henry in the 13-man Blues squad that will be out for revenge having lost the 50-over final last year against Bulls.

Queensland: James Hopes (c), Cameron Boyce, Joe Burns, Ben Cutting, Luke Feldman, Peter Forrest, Jason Floros, Cameron Gannon, Peter George, Chris Hartley, Ben McDermott, Nathan Reardon, Mark Steketee, (one to be omitted, 12th man to be named).

New South Wales: Peter Nevill (c), Sean Abbott, Doug Bolinger, Ryan Carters, Patrick Cummins, Christopher Green, Josh Hazlewood, Patrick Jackson, Nicolas Maddinson, Kurtis Patterson, Benjamin Rohrer, Gurinder Sandhu, Shane Watson

Watch all the action live tomorrow from 2pm on cricket.com.au or GEM (Australia only).