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WA preview: Dual champions to 'attack more silverware'

Western Australia will again be the team to beat in both the Sheffield Shield and Marsh Cup with Adam Voges' squad prepared for the rest of the states to 'come really hard' at them

Western Australia head coach Adam Voges wants his side to attack more silverware in 2022-23 rather than defend titles as the dual reigning champions enter a new domestic season full of confidence.

Fresh off a record-breaking season where the teams from the west dominated the Sheffield Shield, Marsh One-Day Cup and KFC BBL, WA will again be the state to beat this summer.

Their squad oozes talent and determination right through to player 29 and despite missing their five Australian representatives in Cameron Green, Mitch Marsh, Marcus Stoinis, Ashton Agar and Josh Inglis – which will again be the case for large parts of this season – WA still secured a drought-breaking Sheffield Shield title along with the Marsh Cup last summer.

Voges told cricket.com.au his squad was prepared for the rest of the states to "come really hard" at them and they were hungry to add to the trophy cabinet again this summer.

Veteran Shaun Marsh, who announced in May he would play on into a 22nd season, is unlikely to play one-day cricket for WA this season to help provide opportunities to young guns like Teague Wyllie, Corey Rocchiccioli, Cooper Connolly and Sam Fanning, just to name a few.

WA kick off their season on Sunday with a Marsh Cup clash against Victoria at the Junction Oval before opening their Shield campaign at home against NSW on October 3.

Last season

Sheffield Shield: Champions

Marsh One-Day Cup: Champions

Squad: Ashton Agar*, Cameron Bancroft, Jason Behrendorff, Hilton Cartwright, Sam Fanning, Cameron Gannon, Cameron Green*, Aaron Hardie, Josh Inglis*, Bryce Jackson, Matthew Kelly, Mitch Marsh*, Shaun Marsh, David Moody, Lance Morris, Joel Paris, Josh Philippe, Jhye Richardson, Corey Rocchiccioli, D’Arcy Short, Charlie Stobo, Marcus Stoinis*, Ashton Turner, Sam Whiteman, Teague Wyllie. Rookies: Cooper Connolly, Jayden Goodwin, Sam Greer, Hamish Mckenzie

* Cricket Australia contract

Drought broken! WA lift Shield title after 23-year wait

Ins: Sam Greer (rookie), Hamish Mckenzie (rookie), Teague Wyllie

Outs: Liam Guthrie (Queensland)

Possible best XIs

Sheffield Shield: Cameron Bancroft, Sam Whiteman, Shaun Marsh, Cameron Green, Mitch Marsh, Hilton Cartwright, Josh Inglis, Ashton Agar, Aaron Hardie, Jhye Richardson, Joel Paris

Marsh One-Day Cup: Josh Philippe, Cameron Green, Mitch Marsh, Hilton Cartwright, Marcus Stoinis, Josh Inglis, Ashton Turner, Ashton Agar, Jhye Richardson, Jason Behrendorff, Andrew Tye

The inside word with head coach Adam Voges

The pre-season: "Probably only in the last couple of weeks have we really started to get the majority of the squad back again. We've had a number of players away with international cricket, players up in Darwin and over in the UK as well.

"So we've had a lot of guys come and go during the pre-season, so it's felt a little bit different again but it's probably a bit more back to how it normally was a couple of years ago. We've had a number of guys playing cricket, which is always positive and everyone's come back fit, healthy and ready to go, which is exciting."

WA bowlers defend low total to win Marsh Cup crown

Practice matches: "We've had a couple of one-day games and a three-day hit out last week and there was some strong performances – Aaron Hardie performed really well, got a hundred, Teague Wyllie got some runs as well, Cameron Bancroft, Sam Whiteman were all very good with the bat.

"Cameron Gannon impressed with the ball and a lot of our bowling group got a really solid hit out during those games. So I feel like they're well prepared and they're looking forward to getting started."

Hardie delivers career-best 174* in Shield final

Availability: Cameron Green: "My understanding is that while he's not in the (T20) World Cup squad that we will have Greeny back that at some point post the Indian series. We're very hopeful that we get him for our first Shield game at home against NSW and hopefully the 50-over game as well. He's played a bit of cricket and he's going nicely, we'd obviously welcome him back but we'll just keep in contact with Cricket Australia around his availability but certainly hoping to have him for the first part of the summer.

Green moves through the gears and sees Aussies home

"We'll just have to wait and see how it plays out (for Marsh, Stoinis, Agar and Inglis). I know there's some Australia A cricket as well (after the T20 World Cup). From our planning point of view, anytime we get those guys back, we just see it as a bonus, we don't always necessarily expect them to be back post big international tournaments but if we do get them back then that'll certainly be welcomed."

Areas for improvement: "Individually there's always room for improvement and that's been the focus over the pre-season that if we can find individual improvement then collectively as a group we continue to grow. The mentality of our squad is that we're looking for those marginal gains at the moment and we're working hard to try and find them. We'll need depth this year, there's no doubt about that, so continuing to build that and developing those younger players within our squad has certainly been a focus as well."

Young guns: "Teague Wyllie made his Shield debut, he's two games into a career and he's won a Shield so that's a nice start for him so it'd be great to see his development over the next 12 months. Cooper Connolly is someone that we're really excited about and how he progresses over this next period as well.

"Sam Fanning was in a couple of our squads at the back end of the season as well so there's a couple of guys there that haven't had a lot of exposure yet but we're certainly hopeful over the next couple of years we'll see them in our teams and squads. Competition for spots is going to be red hot at the start of summer which is exciting."

Talking points

Dual back-to-back?

"The motivation is high. We talk about attacking more silverware rather than defending titles. We know that teams are going to come really hard at us and we need to be well prepared for that. The guys have worked well during the pre-season, we had five guys run personal bests at a 2km time trial (last Monday) so that tells me the guys are hungry, the work ethic is there and that'll give us a great opportunity to try and replicate what we did last year."

How much with Shaun Marsh play?

"It was a pretty short conversation we ended up having at the end of last year and he's really keen to go again. He's still hungry to keep getting better, he's still hungry to help our young guys and just having him around at the moment is invaluable in terms of what he can provide from an experience point of view.

Emotional Marsh finally realises his Shield dream

"He's had a bit of an interrupted pre-season with some knee rehab but looking forward to him being ready to go for the start of the Shield summer. He's achieved everything there is in the 50-over game, he's WA's leading run-scorer by a fair bit, he's won four Marsh Cup titles now.

"For us to keep developing our squad we felt that there might be more opportunity in the white-ball (format) so he's shown a willingness to step aside and allow us to play other players in that format and hopefully that keeps him fresh throughout the season and he can enjoy a really big Shield summer."

What do you do with Aaron Hardie if the Aussie allrounders are available?

"It keeps me awake at night those sorts of questions. Realistically, how often are we going to see all of those guys in the one team, it's probably not going to happen too often. It would be an absolute luxury should it eventuate during the summer and those selection dilemmas will be welcome ones if we do have to make those calls. But to have five quality allrounders in Marsh, Stoinis, Green, Agar and Hardie, I can't see a reason why we can't fit all of them in the same team."

Spin threat?

"We've identified that spin is something we've got to keep developing. We play on pace friendly wickets here at the WACA but I like having a spinner in the team, particularly in four-day cricket. Giving Corey (Rocchiccioli) a bit more continuity and consistency in selection is something that we're going to look to (do). Having those allrounders in the team probably gives us the luxury of getting him in the side more regularly and hopefully he can continue his development. He took some good strides forward last year and hopefully with more exposure and opportunity he can continue to develop and play a really important role for us."

'Coffee-shop' bat gets Rocchiccioli to drought-breaking fifty

Key player: "We've got 29 players in our squad and I reckon we're going to need the majority of them throughout the summer. The really pleasing bit about last year and the success that we had was we had different players step up at different times and when players did get their opportunity, they were well prepared and ready to take those opportunities. So I don't think we've ever truly relied on one or two, we've always needed a group effort and hopefully we can experience something similar this year."

Team to beat: "Everyone is going to be coming for us so we need to be prepared for that. The thing I love about domestic cricket here in Australia is that there's no weak teams. Every team is a really strong challenge every year and we know that we need to be at our best.

"We played Victoria in the Shield final, we played NSW in the Marsh Cup, they're going to be really strong again. South Australia are developing a really strong stable of fast bowlers, Queensland are always dangerous and Tassie beat us in all games last year, so that's something we need to focus on and try and get right this year."