Coulter-Nile considers radical Shield plan

Injury-plagued quick Nathan Coulter-Nile wants to have a "red-hot crack" at playing in the JLT Sheffield Shield early next year, but concedes the number of overs he'd be able to bowl per match would likely be restricted.

One of the best fast bowlers in the country when he's fit, Coulter-Nile's main goal this summer is to win back his spot in Australia's one-day team ahead of their World Cup defence next year, starting with next month's series against South Africa.

If he can manage that, the ODI team's schedule means he will avoid the minefield of pushing his fragile body through the rigours of first-class cricket so soon after a long injury lay-off.

The road back from serious injury has been a hazardous one for the luckless Coulter-Nile in the past, even in the first few tentative steps; just last year, having starred on Australia's one-day tour of India, he played one Shield match and then bowled 16 overs in the first innings of a tour game against England before being forced to miss the rest of the summer due to a back injury.

And he says a Shield return this season would only come after the KFC Big Bash, and only if Western Australia coach Adam Voges is willing to pick a fast bowler who, while undeniably talented, will be limited to as few as 15 overs per innings.

"I'm hoping I can be playing for Australia," Coulter-Nile told cricket.com.au on Sunday of his plans for the second half of the season. "Hopefully that happens and that'll make my decision for me.

"If not, I will have a red-hot crack at Shield cricket, but it will be modified. I don't think I can bowl 20 overs a day on consecutive days. I'll have a chat to 'V' (Voges) and work through that. If I can get my body there, I absolutely want to play red-ball cricket.

"(In the past) I've been conservative in terms of what I play and slowly getting myself back to a certain point. But I think this conversation is more about lowering the point I'm trying to get to.

"Rather than bowling 40 overs in a game, let's see if I can get that down to 15 overs an innings. It might hurt me in selection, but I'd rather be available for that than nothing.

"(Voges and I) haven't chatted about that yet. Hopefully he's open to it."

But Coulter-Nile's Plan A is a return to ODI cricket next month and, based on the evidence at Melbourne's Junction Oval on Sunday, selectors would be hard pressed not to grant him his wish.

The right-armer bowled with impressive pace, bounce and swing in WA's JLT Cup semi-final loss to Victoria, finding edges from Cameron White and Travis Dean before luring Glenn Maxwell into a top-edged pull shot to finish with figures of 3-50.

Having earned a recall for Australia's T20 series against Pakistan later this month, the 30-year-old is hoping that will lead to a return to the one-day side for November's series against South Africa and the three ODIs against India in January.

The matches this summer, and an ODI tour of Asia in February and March to play India and Pakistan, represent Australia's final one-day matches before their World Cup defence next winter.

Coulter-Nile concedes he has some work to do to jump ahead of Australia's star pace trio Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Pat Cummins, but believes his career ODI record of 37 wickets at 26 speaks for itself.

"Purely on my record, I know I can do it," he said. "Personally, I like it when selectors go for people who have been playing, go to them first and then look at who's behind. The top three bowlers in Australia are Paddy, Hoff and Starcy. They're head and shoulders above everyone else. Hopefully I'm not too far behind them.

"I probably didn't take as many wickets as I would have liked to (in the JLT Cup), but I feel like I've been bowling pretty well.

"It's up to the selectors. It's obviously a pretty hard side to get into now, everyone wants to be there with a World Cup coming up.

"You have Starcy, Hoff, Paddy, Billy Stanlake's up and going. There's some serious bowlers going around at the moment."

Victorian skipper Peter Handscomb, who withstood Coulter-Nile's superb opening spell on Sunday to help steer the Vics into the JLT Cup final, said he wasn't surprised to see the Warriors quick back to his best.

"He's always been great, with him it's just been about staying on the park," Handscomb said after top-scoring with 80 in his side's 63-run win.

"It's great to see he's fit and firing. He's been great in this tournament.

"He's always tough to face when he's shaping it with the new ball and at the back (of an innings) he just bowls a heavy length, and fast."