World Cup hero Marnus returns for Bulls' crunch Shield clash

Australia's World Cup hero Marnus Labuschagne will line up for Queensland in tomorrow's Marsh Sheffield Shield clash with Western Australia at the Gabba.

Labuschagne, who replaces opener Bryce Street, will be the lone member of the World Cup winning XI playing in this Shield round, with the Test No.3 switching to the red-ball format ahead of the series opener against Pakistan in Brisbane from December 14.

The 29-year-old hasn't turned out for Queensland since November last year but is one of three valuable additions, alongside pace pair Michael Neser and Mark Steketee, to a team that has suffered dramatic defeats to Victoria and South Australia in their past two matches and now sits at the foot of the Shield ladder with one win from five.

Queensland squad: Usman Khawaja (c), Joe Burns, Jack Clayton, Liam Guthrie, Jimmy Peirson, Marnus Labuschagne, Michael Neser, Matthew Renshaw, Gurinder Sandhu, Mark Steketee, Mitchell Swepson, Jack Wildermuth

Second-placed WA will also welcome back a World Cup squad member, with allrounder Cameron Green another looking to acclimatise to first-class cricket, having not played the format since the fourth Ashes Test in July.

As flagged by cricket.com.au on Saturday, the reigning champions have named the star allrounder to play his first Sheffield Shield match in two years after returning from Australia's World Cup triumph in India.

Green, who is fighting to win back his Test spot after being leapfrogged by fellow WA allrounder Mitch Marsh during the Ashes, last played a Shield match in November 2021.

WA will also unleash Jhye Richardson against Queensland at the Gabba with the right-arm speedster in line to play his first Shield match of the season after making a successful return from a dislocated shoulder in last week's Marsh Cup match against South Australia.

Green and Richardson are among five changes to WA's 13-player squad, with Big Bash final hero Cooper Connolly, wicketkeeper-batter Joel Curtis and batter Sam Fanning replacing Aaron Hardie and Josh Philippe, who have been called up to Australia's T20 squad in India, Lance Morris (managed) and Teague Wyllie (omitted).

WA squad: Sam Whiteman (c), Cameron Bancroft, Hilton Cartwright, Cooper Connolly, Joel Curtis, Sam Fanning, Jayden Goodwin, Cameron Green, Liam Haskett, Joel Paris, Jhye Richardson, Corey Rocchiccioli, Charlie Stobo

 

Ins: Cooper Connolly, Joel Curtis, Sam Fanning, Cameron Green, Jhye Richardson

 

Outs: Aaron Hardie, Lance Morris, Josh Philippe, Teague Wyllie

Elsewhere around the country, a third World Cup winner in South Australia 'keeper-batter Alex Carey will make his return to the Shield when the Redbacks welcome Victoria in Adelaide.

Carey was dropped for Josh Inglis during the World Cup but the left-hander remains Australia's first-choice gloveman in Baggy Green, and joins the third-placed South Australians who will also see the return from injury of paceman Wes Agar.

South Australia squad: Jake Lehmann (c), Nathan McSweeney, Wes Agar, Jordan Buckingham, Jake Carder, Alex Carey, Harry Conway, Brendan Doggett, Jake Fraser-McGurk, Henry Hunt, Ben Manenti, Nathan McAndrew, Liam Scott

Victoria will rest Test quick Scott Boland as part of a Cricket Australia workload mandate, while spinner Todd Murphy is also being handled cautiously and will again miss out due to shoulder soreness.

Veteran Peter Siddle comes back into the Vics squad to cover for Boland, while left-arm spinner Doug Warren retains his place after debuting in Melbourne last week.

Victoria squad: Will Sutherland (c), Xavier Crone, Travis Dean, Peter Handscomb, Sam Harper, Marcus Harris, Campbell Kellaway, Jon Merlo, Fergus O'Neill, Mitch Perry, Will Pucovski, Peter Siddle, Doug Warren

In the other match of the round, fifth-placed New South Wales host Tasmania, who are flying high in first position after an unbeaten start to the Shield season.

Tasmania squad: Jordan Silk (c), Gabe Bell, Jake Doran, Jarrod Freeman, Bradley Hope, Caleb Jewell, Lawrence Neil-Smith, Mitchell Owen, Samuel Rainbird, Billy Stanlake, Charlie Wakim, Tim Ward, Beau Webster

For the Blues, Test spinner Nathan Lyon, along with batters Sam Konstas and Blake Nikitaras, are additions to the 12 players that made up the squad that lost to Tasmania in Hobart last week.

The trio has replaced Daniel Hughes and Ben Dwarshuis, while Jack Nisbet, a late call-up for the most recent Tasmanian match and Jason Sangha, the 12th player in Hobart, maintain their positions in the group.

Lyon missed NSW's last match as part of his CA load management. Nikitaras is in line to make his first Shield appearance of the summer, while 18-year-old Konstas is yet to play first class cricket and will make his Blues debut if selected.

Jack Edwards, Liam Hatcher and Hayden Kerr were not considered for selection due to injury. All three are on track to return to action in KFC BBL|13.

NSW squad: Moises Henriques (c), Jackson Bird, Ollie Davies, Matthew Gilkes, Chris Green, Ryan Hackney, Sam Konstas, Nathan Lyon, Blake Macdonald, Blake Nikitaras, Jack Nisbet, Jason Sangha, Chris Tremain

Sheffield Shield 2023-24 standings

Team	Matches played M	Wins W	Losses L	Drawn D	No results N/R	Deductions Ded.	Batting Bonus Bat	Bowling Bonus Bowl	Total points PTS
1 Western Australia Men WA	10	5	2	3	0	0	5.53	9.4	47.93
2 Tasmanian Tigers Men TAS	10	5	2	3	0	0	6.06	8.3	47.36
3 NSW Men NSW	10	4	3	3	0	0	6.31	9	42.31
4 Victoria Men VIC	10	4	4	2	0	0	4.74	8.2	38.94
5 South Australia Men SA	10	3	6	1	0	0	5.19	9.3	33.49
6 Queensland Bulls QLD	10	2	6	2	0	0	3.54	8.3	25.84

Legend

M: Matches played

W: Wins

L: Losses

D: Drawn

N/R: No results

Ded.: Deductions

Bat: Batting Bonus

Bowl: Bowling Bonus

PTS: Total points