Blues name Shield squad, depart early for title defence

New South Wales will travel to Adelaide to begin their Marsh Sheffield Shield title defence today, moving up their travel plans after Sydney recorded three fresh coronavirus cases on Wednesday.

The Blues will take a 17-man squad to the Adelaide Shield hub, headlined by available Test stars Nathan Lyon and Mitch Starc.

NSW were planning on travelling to the South Australian capital on October 18 ahead of their first Shield clash on October 22 against Victoria, who are currently quarantining in Adelaide.

But the three new COVID-19 cases in Sydney's west has seen the Blues act quickly to take advantage of the open borders between New South Wales and South Australia.

The 17-man squad is stacked with international experience and led by gloveman Peter Nevill.

Six fast bowlers in Starc, Sean Abbott, Trent Copeland, Chris Tremain, Liam Hatcher and Harry Conway are complemented by ace off-spinner Lyon and 18-year-old leg-spinner Tanveer Sangha.

Moises Henriques, Kurtis Patterson and Daniel Hughes are the senior batters in the squad and will be supported by youngsters Jason Sangha, Matthew Gilkes and Jack Edwards.

While the Blues were dominant last summer, coach Phil Jaques says his squad has been searching for improvement this preseason.

"At times when you win a Shield, there can be a little bit of complacency within the camp, I've seen it in teams I've played in, but I certainly haven't seen it at all through this whole off-season," Jaques said.

"There continues to be a real hunger to keep improving and take our cricket to the next level.

"(During the preseason,) we were operating in groups anywhere from four up to full squad training, but changing weekly, so the guys have had to be really adaptable throughout the preseason.

"I can't commend them enough for how adaptable they've been to get a really good body of work done and be as prepared as we are."

NSW Blues squad: Peter Nevill (c), Daniel Hughes, Nick Larkin, Kurtis Patterson, Moises Henriques, Daniel Solway, Jason Sangha, Matthew Gilkes, Sean Abbott, Trent Copeland, Mitchell Starc, Chris Tremain, Nathan Lyon, Liam Hatcher, Harry Conway, Jack Edwards, Tanveer Sangha