Three-peat blow as Hardie, Green to miss Marsh Cup final

Western Australia's quest for a historic Marsh One-Day Cup three-peat has suffered a setback with star allrounder Aaron Hardie ruled out amid four changes to the reigning champion's squad for Sunday's decider against NSW.

Test No.4 Cameron Green also hasn't been included off the back of his unbeaten Sheffield Shield century against Tasmania on Monday as he travels to New Zealand to join the Australian squad.

Hardie suffered a calf injury in last weekend's Shield draw with Tasmania, which prevented him from taking the field on the final two days of the match and ruled him out of replacing fellow WA allrounder Marcus Stoinis in Australia's T20 squad to tour New Zealand.

WA gave the 25-year-old until the last minute to prove his fitness to travel to Sydney, however it was confirmed this morning the minor strain was enough to stop him from taking his place even as a specialist batter.

Experienced left-arm quicks Jason Behrendorff and Joel Paris are among four big inclusions for the two-time reigning champions who departed Perth for Sydney on two separate flights today via Canberra and Melbourne because of the high-demand due to Taylor Swift's shows in the Harbour City this weekend.

WA squad for the Marsh Cup final: Sam Whiteman (c), Ashton Agar, Cameron Bancroft, Mahli Beardman, Jason Behrendorff, Hilton Cartwright, Cooper Connolly, Cameron Gannon, Nick Hobson, Joel Paris, Josh Philippe, D'Arcy Short, Andrew Tye

 

(Ins: Mahli Beardman, Jason Behrendorff, Cooper Connolly, Joel Paris. Outs: Keaton Critchell, Bryce Jackson, Corey Rocchiccioli, Charlie Stobo)

Behrendorff – Australia's men's T20 player of the year – returns after missing selection for the three-match series across the Tasman with the big three of Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood available for the team's last hit-out before June's T20 World Cup.

Sunday's final will be Paris' first Marsh Cup match of the season but he enters the decider in superb red-ball form with 30 Shield wickets at 14.70 this summer.

The pair will be joined by emerging speedster Mahli Beardman who is inline to play his first match since earning player of the final honours for his 3-15 in Australia's Under-19 World Cup triumph over India earlier this month.

If selected, it will be Beardman's second game for his state after making his List A debut at Cricket Central – the venue for Sunday's final – in the two sides first meeting of the season in November where he collected 1-42 from six overs.

Spin-bowling allrounder Cooper Connolly has recovered from a quad strain and is the final inclusion to WA's 13-player squad, with debutants from their previous match, Keaton Critchell and Bryce Jackson, off-spinner Corey Rocchiccioli and seamer Charlie Stobo dropping out.

Despite several key players being unavailable, head coach Adam Voges said the squad they were taking to Sydney had played most of the season and "got us to where we are at the moment".

"The one advantage we do have is there's only been one domestic Marsh Cup game (at Cricket Central) so far and we did play in it," Voges told 6PR Perth.

"We'll know the conditions … it's a wicket that certainly kept a little low and was a little bit inconsistent in bounce."

WA snuck into second spot to qualify for the final with a 52-run victory over Tasmania in their final regular season match, edging out Vicotria due to a superior net run-rate of 0.543 compared to 0.232.

The state would claim an unprecedented 17th domestic men's 50-over title if victorious on Sunday, with NSW four behind WA's 16 with 12 titles.

Marsh Cup 2023-24 standings

Team	Matches played M	Wins W	Losses L	Ties T	No results N/R	Net Run Rate NRR	Deductions Ded.	Batting Bonus Bat	Total points PTS
1 NSW Men NSW	7	5	2	0	0	0.33	0	2	22
2 Western Australia Men WA	7	5	2	0	0	0.543	0	1	21
3 Victoria Men VIC	7	5	2	0	0	0.232	0	1	21
4 Tasmanian Tigers Men TAS	7	3	4	0	0	-0.201	0	1	13
5 Queensland Bulls QLD	7	1	5	0	1	-0.735	0	1	7
6 South Australia Men SA	7	1	5	0	1	-0.327	1	0	5

Legend

M: Matches played

W: Wins

L: Losses

T: Ties

N/R: No results

NRR: Net Run Rate

Ded.: Deductions

Bat: Batting Bonus

PTS: Total points