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NSW, Victoria to face off as border closures bite

The likes of Nathan Lyon, Will Pucovski and James Pattinson will begin their seasons in a series of NSW v Victoria games ahead of the Ashes

New South Wales and Victoria have given up on playing against other state teams before Christmas and are now hopeful of instead arranging up to three Marsh Sheffield Shield games against one another in the coming weeks.

With state borders to NSW and Victoria currently closed due to high rates of COVID-19 infections, those two states' participation in the start of the Shield and Marsh One-Day Cup seasons had hinged on being able to quarantine in another state before being able to play.

The teams had been willing to spend a fortnight in hotel rooms, without training exemptions.

But NSW's head of male cricket Michael Klinger confirmed today that those applications to state governments had fallen through, with cricket officials now optimistic the two teams could instead play matches in Melbourne and Sydney as early as this month.

Test players from those two states who are not going to the T20 World Cup like Nathan Lyon, Will Pucovski and James Pattinson could soon be playing matches at the MCG, SCG and the Junction Oval, according to Klinger.

Those games would be vital for players eager to impress before the first Ashes Test against England at the Gabba on December 8.

Depending on state border arrangements, Klinger is hopeful players and support staff will not have to quarantine while travelling between Sydney and Melbourne.

Authorities in both NSW and Victoria will begin to loosen restrictions in the coming weeks, once vaccination targets are reached, but what those targets mean for the border between the two states is yet to be confirmed.

Cricket NSW and Cricket Victoria say all players and staff have so far had at least one dose of the vaccine.

Cricket Australia is yet to finalise the new fixtures, but Klinger suggested they could be confirmed by the end of this week.

It will effectively create parallel domestic competitions, with Queensland, Tasmania, South Australia and Western Australia scheduled to play games against each other in Adelaide and Perth in the coming weeks.

Barring an unlikely loosening of restrictions shortly, the Vics and NSW will not play against those teams until next year, after the mid-season break for the KFC BBL.

"We've done our best over the last few months to try and get ourselves interstate," Klinger told reporters on Monday.

"I couldn't be prouder of both players and staff in terms of the resilience they've shown in offering to be away for anywhere between 8-12 weeks to get the season started.

"They've had a pre-season without an end-point. That's unheard of in in normal situations ... so the guys have been fantastic."

Klinger was at pains to praise how players and staff in NSW have soldiered on during a disjointed pre-season, which has been ruined by Sydney’s bleak winter battling the virus, although he stressed that World Cup squad members - Pat Cummins, Adam Zampa and Daniel Sams - have been able to adequately prepare for the tournament.

Leg-spinner Zampa has been training remotely at his home in Byron Bay in the state's north, but it has been more complicated for other NSW squad members who live in locked-down local government areas in Sydney's west.

Recent Australia T20 squad member Tanveer Sangha along with rookie Josh Barbaba have not been able to train with the NSW squad due to restrictions in their local areas.

Sangha travelled to St Lucia, Barbados and Dhaka as a reserve with Australia's limited-overs squad earlier this year but has since been limited to bowling at his local nets and sending footage to NSW support staff for feedback.

Wicketkeeper-batter Baxter Holt and batting coach Chandika Hathurusingha live in the Parramatta area and have been able to train with the Blues at the Olympic Park precinct but have missed the sessions further west in Blacktown.

Batter Daniel Hughes and paceman Liam Hatcher narrowly avoided the same fate by moving out of home.

"They’ve gone above and beyond, players and staff, in the last few months," said Klinger.

"I'm really excited now to see how they step up now to hopefully play some cricket because they have put in so much work in probably the most challenging circumstances that anyone's had around Australian cricket.

"Whatever happens in next few months performance-wise, I think they got to be given a lot of credit."

One Shield game and one Marsh Cup game between SA and WA at Karen Rolton Oval last month are the extent of the domestic games played so far this season, with the women's season to get underway next week with the Weber WBBL.

A COVID-19 scare in Brisbane on the morning of Queensland's scheduled clash with Tasmania last week sent the visitors scurrying home fearing their state government would have prevented them from returning to Hobart.

It highlighted the precarious nature of sporting fixtures, particularly given there is little appetite to replicate the kind of bio-secure 'bubble' arranged in Adelaide for the start of last season's Sheffield Shield.