Vics opt to bowl first in Shield final

Ashes hero Scott Boland will get first use of the WACA wicket after Victoria captain Peter Handscomb won the toss and bowled first in the Marsh Sheffield Shield final.

The Vics have made three changes to their XI that lost by an innings and 51 runs to Western Australia in the final round of the season last week, while the hosts have named an unchanged side.

Boland's inclusion is a huge boost for the visitors after they lost veteran quick James Pattinson to a calf injury and Test squad member Marcus Harris to COVID-19 just days prior to the final.

WA: Cameron Bancroft, Sam Whiteman, Shaun Marsh (c), Hilton Cartwright, Teague Wyllie, Josh Philippe (wk), Aaron Hardie, Joel Paris, Matthew Kelly, Corey Rocchiccioli, Lance Morris

Victoria: Will Pucovski, Travis Dean, Peter Handscomb (c), Nic Maddinson, Matt Short, Jono Merlo, Sam Harper (wk), Will Sutherland, Scott Boland, Mitch Perry, Jon Holland

The 32-year-old arrived in Perth yesterday and comes into the Victoria side after returning from Australia's Test tour of Pakistan where he didn't play in the 1-0 series win.

Left-arm finger spinner Jon Holland and allrounder Jono Merlo also come into the Victorian team at the expense of young batter Jake Fraser-McGurk and fast bowler Cameron McClure.

Meanwhile, 17-year-old Teague Wyllie has been picked for his second first-class game after making 42 on debut last week.

Wyllie, at 17 years and 342 days old, becomes the second-youngest player behind Test skipper Pat Cummins (17 years, 313 days) to play in a Shield final.

Veteran batter Shaun Marsh will lead WA in their first home Sheffield Shield final since 1997-98 as the hosts look to break a 23-year title drought.

"We haven't won (a Sheffield Shield) for long time so to have this opportunity to play at the WACA and to try and win one is very exciting, the boys have prepared well and are ready to go," Marsh said.

Both sides have picked a front-line spinner for the decider, which goes for an extra day compared to the four-day regular season matches, with off-spinner Corey Rocchiccioli retaining his place in the WA side.

The right-armer bowled just six overs in last week’s win against Victoria with their pace quartet of Joel Paris, Lance Morris, Matt Kelly and Aaron Hardie claiming all 20 Victorian wickets.

"Five-day games are a lot different to four-day Shield games where sometimes you need to force a result a little bit quicker," Handscomb said.

"You do have the fifth day so you can let the game play out so there's definitely a chance (spin might come into it).

"I'm sure he (Boland) trained the house down in Pakistan, one of the beauties about being 12th man is you do a lot of training so I'm sure he's done all the workloads that he needs to do to be ready for this game, even coming off a flight few days ago."

Western Australia is undefeated in its last five Sheffield Shield matches against Victoria and has won each of the past two meetings, while Victoria will be looking to win its fifth Shield title in the past eight seasons.

The Marsh Sheffield Shield final will be broadcast live on Fox Cricket and Kayo Sports, as well as streamed free on cricket.com.au and the CA Live app