Marsh One-Day Cup preview: Western Australia

A star-studded Western Australia loom as a major threat in this season's rebranded, revamped one-day tournament, the Marsh One-Day Cup.

Having been played as a single block of matches at the beginning of the season for the past six years, this summer's tournament will span more than two months from September 21 to November 26 and be split by breaks for the Marsh Sheffield Shield, while teams could also lose players during the tournament due to Australia's T20 series against Sri Lanka as well as their T20 and Test campaigns against Pakistan.

The Warriors boast four members of Australia's World Cup squad in their playing group – Shaun Marsh, Marcus Stoinis, Nathan Coulter-Nile and Jason Behrendorff – as well as recent ODI players Jhye Richardson, Ashton Turner and D'Arcy Short, while they are also expecting Ashes players Cameron Bancroft and Mitchell Marsh to be available early in the tournament, pending approval from national selectors.

And having gone unbeaten in last season's preliminary rounds before being knocked out in the semi-finals, the Warriors have a score to settle from the 2018-19 campaign.

Cricket.com.au spoke to Western Australia coach Adam Voges to preview the tournament.

FULL MARSH ONE-DAY CUP FIXTURES HERE

Squad

WA have named a strong 13-man squad for their opening two matches in Perth, which sees an immediate return for action for Test squad member Cameron Bancroft but doesn't include allrounder Mitchell Marsh who played in the fifth Ashes Test. There's also no Jason Behrendorff who will miss the first two matches after a recent back injury: Ashton Turner (c), Cameron Bancroft, Ashton Agar, Hilton Cartwright, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Cameron Green, Matt Kelly,  Shaun Marsh, Josh Philippe, Jhye Richardson, D'Arcy Short, Marcus Stoinis, Andrew Tye.  

CA contracts: Nathan Coulter-Nile, Shaun Marsh, Jhye Richardson, Marcus Stoinis. WA contracts: Ashton Agar, Cameron Bancroft, Jason Behrendorff, Jake Carder, Hilton Cartwright, Cameron Green, Liam Guthrie, Aaron Hardie, Josh Inglis, Matthew Kelly, Simon Mackin, Mitch Marsh, David Moody, Joel Paris, Josh Philippe, D'arcy Short, Ashton Turner, Andrew Tye, Sam Whiteman. Rookies: Sam Fanning, Jayden Goodwin, Bradley Hope, Lance Morris, Matthew Spoors.

Possible Best XI: Shaun Marsh, D'Arcy Short, Cameron Bancroft, Mitchell Marsh, Marcus Stoinis, Ashton Turner, Josh Philippe (wk), Ashton Agar, Jhye Richardson, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Jason Behrendorff

2018 result: Semi-finals

Fixtures

Sep 21: v Vic at the WACA Ground (Cricket Network & Kayo)

Sep 25: v Tas at the WACA Ground (Cricket Network & Kayo)

Sep 30: v NSW at Drummoyne Oval (Fox Cricket & Kayo)

Oct 2: v NSW at Drummoyne Oval (Fox Cricket & Kayo)

Oct 23: v Vic at the WACA Ground (Cricket Network & Kayo)

Oct 31: v Qld at Metricon Stadium (Fox Cricket & Kayo)

Nov 17: v SA at Karen Rolton Oval (Cricket Network & Kayo)

The inside word with Adam Voges

Pre-season

We've had a lot of guys either in the UK, a couple up in Darwin, a few went on the MRF tour to India as well. So it's been guys coming in and out a little bit, but in general it's been a really good pre-season. The boys have worked hard, we've had some really good weather so we've had some good outdoor sessions, and barring a couple of guys in the Ashes squad, we've got everyone back together ready to go for the summer. We (had) a couple of practice games this week in the lead-up to the Marsh Cup, so that's a good opportunity for the boys to start transferring stuff they've been working on in the nets out into the middle.

Injury update

Touch wood we'll have close to a fully-fit squad. There's a couple of little niggles from some of the fast bowlers, but that's to be expected as they start to crank up their work a little bit. But it's nothing that will keep guys out. So we should have a full healthy squad to start the season.

(Jason Behrendorff) came home with just a niggle in his back, which he's been managing. We've just given him a week for that to settle down. He's moving pretty well and he'll be up and bowling again early next week. He's had a big winter with the World Cup so he's got plenty of cricket under his belt, so when he's ready to go we look forward to having him back.

Young gun

Jhye Richardson is tracking really well. The throwing side of things, he's still got a bit of work to do, but he bowled really nicely in our intra-squad game. He's getting that zip back again. He's around 90-95 per cent fitness so it's just a matter of getting that last little bit. He's done all he could possibly do to make sure he's right to go so I fully expect him to be available for that first game. He won't be able to throw from the outfield, so it'll be a case of keeping him in the ring. I'm sure we'll be able to manage that, he still moves incredibly well in the field. We'll just keep building his throwing power up, but there's a bit of work to do there.

A World Cup and an Ashes tour is probably the pinnacle in terms of Australian cricket, so he's disappointed he's missed out on that. But he's still so young. He's had a really rapid rise in a short period of time so he just needs to get back to playing some good cricket and I'm sure if he can do that, there's a big summer ahead.

Player to watch

Marcus Stoinis knows he didn't have the World Cup campaign he would've liked. He had an extended break after the World Cup, had a bit of a holiday which I think he needed – he'd been going non-stop for a long period of time, and been away from home for a long period of time. So he had the chance to reset and refresh. He had a couple of side strains and a toe injury by the back-end of the World Cup, so it allowed his body to heal and his mind to freshen up. He's come back really committed to everything he's done so far in pre-season training. He was a really important part of our One-Day Cup last year so hopefully he's in a good space to have a real influence, particularly early in the season.

What's your team's biggest strength?

Our bowling attack is really strong. When you put Behrendorff, Coulter-Nile, AJ Tye, Jhye Richardson, Matt Kelly, Joel Paris, Ashton Agar and then the allrounders Stoinis and Mitch Marsh, that's a pretty formidable bowling attack. I know they're going to be able to either defend totals or put a lot of pressure on the opposition, so as a batting unit we've just got to make sure we do enough for those guys. I see that as our strength, and hopefully we've got a full stable to pick from.

Who's the biggest threat?

We didn't get it right in that semi-final against the Vics last year and it's nice that we get a crack at them first up to try and put that right. You don't put a line through any team; that's the beauty of state cricket, there's six really strong teams. I really look forward to our double-header against NSW, that'll certainly be worth the price of admission if both sides are full strength for those games. So we'll be a strong side, but we know we'll need to play some really good cricket.

What do you make of the new-look schedule?

I like it. It takes us back to how it used to be played with the two competitions combined. The way the players are able to adapt between formats these days, I don't see that being an issue. So I think it's a really good thing. I like the fact there's more games and that the season is extended so there'll be more opportunities for guys. How we manage that (will be important); we'll have a number of guys who will probably play in our white-ball team that won't necessarily play in our Shield team, so it's just making sure everyone's ready to go when they get their opportunity. That's the challenge all states will have, but I see it as a positive overall.

Selection battles

Certainly, on paper it's a really strong team that we're going to be able to put out for the first four one-day games. Sitting in behind that there's a number of youngsters who got opportunities last year, but having full availability, they're going to have to really push to get their opportunities again this year. I don't think that's a bad thing for competition. Cameron Green, Aaron Hardie, Josh Phillipe, Josh Inglis – guys who were pretty regular for us last year, particularly in one-day cricket, with (Aussie reps) coming back and being available, it just means they're going to have to work really hard for their opportunities. They're chomping at the bit to get those chances, and that competition's really good.

That's something we'll need to work out as a selection committee; who we can fit in (and) what team balance we want to go with. It's going to be a really strong team, so that's the challenge for Josh (Philippe) and a number of guys – how do they fit into our full-strength team? We'll work all that out in the next week or so and obviously competition for spots is pretty hot at the moment.

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