Big-name clash to kick off Queensland Premier Cricket

Queensland's Premier Cricket gets underway this weekend with several high-profile players set to feature. 

Australia's Test No.3 Marnus Labuschagne will go head-to-head with former Test batter Usman Khawaja as Redlands Tigers face Valley District in the opening round of the One-Day Cup. 

Labuschagne's Redlands and Khawaja's Valley both contain several other state and BBL players with Jimmy Peirson, James Bazely and Simon Milenko in the Redlands squad and Jack Wildermuth, Mark Steketee, Cameron Boyce and Lachy Pfeffer in the Valley squad. 

The Tigers will be looking to defend their One-Day crown after winning the final against Northern Suburbs last season.

Norths begin their season against University of Queensland and will have new Melbourne Stars recruit Joe Burns leading the way with the bat. 

Other state players to appear in the Premier Cricket's opening weekend include Bryce Street and Mitchell Swepson (both Sandgate-Redcliffe), Matthew Renshaw (Toombul), Max Bryant, Matthew Kuhnemann and Michael Neser (all Gold Coast). 

The Redlands-Valley clash will be shown live and free on Kayo. 

The contest marks 25 years since Eastern Suburbs relocated to its present Wellington Point headquarters and subsequent transformation to the Redlands Tigers.

Queensland Cricket CEO Terry Svenson said the broadcast was the perfect way to commence the season. 

"Having a high-quality match featuring Australian and State players at a great location like Peter Burge Oval where they will celebrate a significant club milestone across the weekend is a wonderful way to launch this agreement with Kayo,'' Svenson said.

"We're fortunate to be in a position to start our summer as scheduled this week and we again acknowledge the outstanding effort by all of the volunteers involved in the game to get us into such a strong position to launch the season."

Queensland's top women's competition, the Katherine Raymont Shield, begins on Sunday, with Beth Mooney and Georgia Voll (Sandgate-Redcliffe), Georgia Prestwidge (Valley) and Josie Dooley (Western Suburbs) some of the most notable players to take the field.