Shield squads: Tassie name Paine, NSW assess options

Tasmania’s hopes of a flying start to the Marsh Sheffield Shield season have been given a sizeable boost with Test skipper Tim Paine named to make his return to cricket following the Ashes.

Paine hasn’t played since breaking his thumb during the fifth Ashes Test at The Oval when England levelled the series 2-2, but the visitors kept hold of the urn courtesy of their ’17-18 series win.

The wicketkeeper has sat out Tasmania’s opening four Marsh One-Day Cup fixtures following the intense Ashes campaign, having helped his side avoid defeat on English soil for the first time in 18 years.

But Paine will be back behind the stumps for the Tigers’ first Shield fixture against Western Australia at the WACA Ground, starting next Thursday.

The 34-year-old won’t captain his state, however, with Matthew Wade Tasmania’s full-time skipper.

Rookie paceman Lawrence Neil-Smith could also make his first-class debut for the Tigers after being named in their 13-man squad.

Beau Webster and Tom Rogers are notable omissions from the squad, with the duo instead named in a second XI side to face ACT/NSW Country in Canberra.

NSW are expected to name at least some of their Ashes stars in their squad to face Queensland at the Gabba, with fast-bowling spots for the opening Domain Test of the summer against Pakistan up for grabs.

"To get a chance to play a few more (Shield games) is exciting. To pull on the Baggy Blue, I don't get to do that too often,” Mitchell Starc, who along with Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood, Steve Smith and David Warner, could feature for NSW in the early Shield rounds, told cricket.com.au last week.

"We play our first two games at the Gabba and the SCG – for us Blue Baggers it doesn't happen too many times to play at the SCG, so the guys are definitely excited about that.

"At the moment everyone is fit which is really exciting, there's a lot of Shield cricket before the Test group get back together again and obviously T20s before that.”

Paine was typically tidy behind the stumps during the Ashes, collecting 20 catches.

He also contributed 58 with the bat in the first innings of the fourth Test in Manchester.

Paine has had a succession of career-threatening injuries, requiring seven separate operations on his right index finger after first breaking it during an exhibition match in 2010.

He also suffered a hairline fracture in his right thumb during the Johannesburg Test last year, his first as captain.

Wade has made two appearances for Tasmania since the Ashes in the 50-over competition, contributing scores of 20 and three.

The left-hander notched two centuries against England at No.6 after earning a recall following a dominant 2018-19 Shield season, during which he plundered 1021 runs at 60.5 from 10 matches, with only Victorian Marcus Harris (1188) having a more prolific summer in the four-day format.

Tasmania squad: Matthew Wade (captain), George Bailey, Jackson Bird, Alex Doolan, Jake Doran, Caleb Jewell, Ben McDermott, Riley Meredith, Lawrence Neil-Smith, Tim Paine, Alex Pyecroft, Sam Rainbird and Jordan Silk