Richardson returns to Shield, eyes higher honours

Jhye Richardson is set to make his first red-ball appearance since the Ashes as the West Australian speedster targets a "reachable" return to the Test arena this summer.

Richardson missed the reigning champion's eight-wicket win in the Marsh Sheffield Shield season opener against NSW last week as medicos managed his return from a minor hamstring complaint he suffered during the pre-season.

But he will return return against Victoria on Monday at CitiPower Centre as WA look to leapfrog Queensland into top position on the Shield table.

The 26-year-old did play in WA's Marsh One-Day Cup thumping of NSW two days prior to the Shield clash where he hit speeds of up to 147kph on his way to 4-24 from eight overs.

It has been a frustrating 10 months injury-wise for the pace ace since ripping apart England's batting line-up with 5-42 to bowl Australia to victory in Adelaide last December.

He missed the remaining three Ashes Tests with a shin complaint, before suffering a hamstring injury in the Marsh Cup final in early March, which ruled him out of WA's breakthrough Shield triumph later that month.

Richardson, who also missed out on a Cricket Australia central contract in April, returned to international cricket in Sri Lanka where he took seven wickets in two ODIs and two T20Is before the pre-season hamstring niggle meant he missed 50-over series against Zimbabwe and New Zealand in Far North Queensland.

But he has been buoyed by his Marsh Cup performance – where his express pace was too hot for even NSW's most senior batters to handle – and hopes it is "building blocks for … a big summer".

"The work that you have to put in to get back from a couple of niggles is always pretty tedious and things don't always go your way so to see the ball swinging as much as it was, was really exciting," Richardson said of his first match of the season.

"It's a good reassurance for me to know that even though it is the first game back I'm in a good place."

Despite missing the first match of the Shield season as part of a stepped recovery plan, the right-armer said he was eager to play as much red-ball cricket as possible to push his case to add to his three Tests.

"Shield cricket is going to be a good priority (so) having not been picked for the one-day stuff for Australia the focus shifts to getting back to playing Test cricket, which I think is quite reasonable and reachable," Richardson said.

"So that would be the major goal for me this season, to put some performances on the board in Shield cricket and play Test cricket again."

Western Australia will face a tough selection dilemma to fit Richardson in; Lance Morris, who himself averaged speeds of 144kph in their first games against NSW, took nine wickets for the match.

The ever-reliable Joel Paris also claimed four wickets for the match and only conceded four runs from 13 overs in the second innings, gun allrounder Aaron Hardie took two and off-spinner Corey Rocchiccioli provided a point of difference with four wickets.

"The whole bowling group, like Joel Paris went for four runs in 13 overs, which is outstanding and helped build pressure throughout the game," WA captain Sam Whiteman said.

"And then when Lance Morris runs in bowls 145-150kph, you can use him for impact spells really effectively.

"Corey Rocchiccioli had a really good week, he bowled really well to the tail and worked well with Lance Morris and he got some good rewards with some wickets late."

For Victoria, Ruwantha Kellapotha is in line for a state debut after being named in a Sheffield Shield squad for the first time.

Test seamer Scott Boland will be rested, while Jon Holland (low-grade calf strain) has been left out.

Western Australia squad: Sam Whiteman (c), Cameron Bancroft, Hilton Cartwright, Sam Fanning, Aaron Hardie, Matt Kelly, Lance Morris, Joel Paris, Josh Philippe, Jhye Richardson, Corey Rocchiccioli, D’Arcy Short, Teague Wyllie

Victoria squad: Peter Handscomb (c), Travis Dean, Sam Harper, Marcus Harris, Ruwantha Kellapotha, Nic Maddinson, Cameron McClure, Todd Murphy, Fergus O'Neill, Mitch Perry, Will Pucovski, Matt Short, Will Sutherland

Meredith managed for Tassie

To kick off the second round of Sheffield Shield clashes, South Australia take on Tasmania at Adelaide Oval from Sunday.

The Travis Head-led side welcome back Nathan McAndrew after a quad complaint kept him out of the Redbacks squad for the first round of the season, where an unbeaten 97 from Henry Hunt on the final day gave the home side a fighting draw against Victoria.

For the Tigers, Riley Meredith is being managed after playing in the season opener against Queensland at Allan Border Field, while Matthew Wade remains unavailable due to international commitments.

South Australia squad: Travis Head (c), Wes Agar, Jordan Buckingham, Jake Carder, Alex Carey, Harry Conway, David Grant, Henry Hunt, Jake Lehmann, Ben Manenti, Nathan McAndrew, Liam Scott, Jake Weatherald

Tasmania Squad: Jordan Silk (c), Gabe Bell, Jackson Bird, Jake Doran, Jarrod Freeman, Caleb Jewell, Ben McDermott, Tim Paine, Sam Rainbird, Peter Siddle, Charlie Wakim, Tim Ward, Beau Webster

Abbot, Swepson return from Australia duty

On Tuesday, NSW host Queensland at Drummoyne Oval and look to bounce back from the comprehensive defeat at the hands of WA.

Sean Abbott makes a welcome return for the Blues, taking the place of Jack Edwards in the squad of 12 that travelled to Perth, and said he was looking forward to a big summer in long-form cricket.

“I’m buzzing to be honest, just the opportunity to get out there and grind away for four days has me really excited,” he said.

“I’ve made no secret that playing Test cricket is the dream and I have to play Shield to do that.”

For Queensland, Mitchell Swepson also returns from international duty.

Swepson and paceman Xavier Bartlett come into the squad in place of Blake Edwards and Bryce Street.

NSW squad: Kurtis Patterson (c), Sean Abbott, Ben Dwarshuis , Matthew Gilkes, Liam Hatcher, Moises Henriques, Baxter Holt, Daniel Hughes, Nathan Lyon, Blake Nikitaras, Jason Sangha (vc), Chris Tremain

Queensland squad: Usman Khawaja (c), Xavier Bartlett, James Bazley, Joe Burns, Jack Clayton, Matthew Kuhnemann, Marnus Labuschagne, Jimmy Peirson, Michael Neser, Matthew Renshaw, Gurinder Sandhu, Mark Steketee, Mitchell Swepson