Abbott seizes brief red-ball chance to push Test case

He may not have held a red Kookaburra in his hand in almost 20 months, but Sean Abbott wasted little time hitting the form that saw him on the cusp of Australia's most recent Ashes squad.

Abbott didn't miss a beat in his first Sheffield Shield match since February last year, upstaging returning Test quick Mitchell Starc with four wickets to lead a NSW fightback on the opening day of their blockbuster clash with Victoria at the MCG.

The 32-year-old bowled with tremendous rhythm throughout his 20 overs on day one, which included a spell of 3-0 in 14 balls after tea where he removed top scorer Peter Handscomb (64), as well as Sam Harper and Vics captain Will Sutherland without scoring in a superb display of seam bowling.

Abbott missed the state's round one draw with South Australia after returning from Australia's taxing limited-overs tour of the UK last month with a minor hamstring complaint.

He said the enforced break helped him "freshen up" following an up and down white-ball tour where he was Australia's leading wicket-taker in their five T20 matches (11) before going at 8.38 runs an over without taking a wicket in his three ODI appearances against England.

The right-armer didn't play at all for NSW last summer after missing the first half of the domestic season as part of Australia's ODI World Cup-winning squad before picking up a shoulder injury during the T20 series against West Indies in February.

Abbott's only first-class matches since the 2022-23 Australian domestic season have been for three-time reigning County Championship division one champions Surrey, where he has collected 47 wickets at 26 over the past two UK summers.

His early season form for Surrey in 2023 and strong finish to his Shield campaign a few months earlier saw him join the Australian squad for their training camp in the lead up to last year's World Test Championship final.

"I haven't picked up a red Kookaburra ball for a while, so it felt a bit funny in the hand this week at training," Abbott told reporters at stumps on day one after helping reduce Victoria to 9-259.

"I don't like missing games, especially for New South Wales.

"I didn't get to play a game for them last season so I hated missing that first one (this season), but it was bloody nice to just stay at home for a couple of weeks and be a dad.

"So a little bit of sacrifice but my girls (wife Brier and daughter Ella) really appreciate it."

While it'll only be a brief stint with the red ball as he's set to rejoin the ODI squad before the next Shield round for November's three-match home series against Pakistan, Abbott's day one effort may be enough to remind selectors he could be an option should they need to dip into their pace reserves across a seven-Test summer (five at home against India followed by two in Sri Lanka).

He insists his sole focus is on "performing for the Blues" rather than buying into any Test hype, but believes his one-day skills are similar to those that have also served him well in the longer format.

"A lot of it is just (bowling) around the top of the stumps," Abbott said. "It's the same when you're playing red-ball cricket, it's just slight adjustments."

Abbott also had a front row seat to fellow Australian quick Starc's first red-ball outing of the summer as he gears up for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy series against India.

"I love watching the big fella ball fast (but) it's scary standing at gully to him," Abbott quipped.

"It just looked like he was in second gear all day – he obviously wasn't, there was an intent with every ball he bowled.

"I thought he held the top of the stumps really well and swung the ball when he needed to and was pretty aggressive in that spell later on in the day bowling some short stuff.

"He had all of his skills on tap today, which is good to see because obviously Mitch has been away a bit, and we've just come back from a bit of a hectic tour."

Starc (1-35 from 19 overs) was the most economical of the NSW bowlers on day one, claiming the wicket of Marcus Harris after also striking him a nasty blow on the elbow in an enthralling battle with the aspiring Test opener.

Sheffield Shield standings 2024-25

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 Victoria Men VIC	4	2	1	1	0	0	3.76	3.4	20.16
2 Western Australia Men WA	4	2	1	1	0	0	3.85	3.2	20.05
3 South Australia Men SA	4	2	1	1	0	0	2.64	3.6	19.24
4 NSW Men NSW	4	1	1	2	0	0	3.03	3.3	14.33
5 Tasmanian Tigers Men TAS	4	0	2	2	0	0	5.41	3.2	10.61
6 Queensland Bulls QLD	4	0	1	3	0	0	3.75	3.6	10.35

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