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The Chinnaswamy seems to be tailor-made for the visitors’ batting line-up, and they carry the confidence of an opening win while RCB look to bounce back from defeat vs CSK

Hemant Brar24-Mar-20241:44

Jaffer: T20 World Cup selection won’t play on Kohli’s mind

Match details

Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) vs Punjab Kings (PBKS)
Bengaluru, 1930 IST (1400 GMT)

Big Picture

After a defeat at Chepauk against Chennai Super Kings, RCB are set to begin a three-match stretch at home. Over the years, their attempts to make the M Chinnaswamy Stadium a fortress have not borne fruit, and it is not going to be any easier on Monday when they face Punjab Kings.The Chinnaswamy is known for its flat pitches and high-scoring games, and Kings’ batting line-up – packed with power-hitters – seems to be tailor-made for it. They will also carry the confidence of having won their opening match against Delhi Capitals, where most of their batters looked in good nick.Against CSK, RCB’s batting had come undone against Mustafizur Rahman’s offcutters. Kings, too, have a left-arm seamer in Arshdeep Singh who has an offcutter and a recently developed legcutter. While Kings will be hoping he plays a similar role for them, the ball is unlikely to grip at the Chinnaswamy, especially during a night game.The silver lining for RCB in their defeat to CSK was Anuj Rawat’s performance. After they were reduced to 78 for 5, Rawat smashed 48 off 25 to revive the innings. If he can make regular contributions, it will help RCB solve their death-overs troubles; they were the second-slowest batting side in that phase last season.

Team news

RCB could consider bringing in Reece Topley for Alzarri Joseph, while Kings are expected to continue with the winning combination.

Impact Player strategy

Royal Challengers Bengaluru
If RCB bat first, Dinesh Karthik starts, with Yash Dayal coming in as Impact Player in the second innings. If they bowl first, Yash Dayal features in the playing XI, with Karthik replacing him during the chase.Probable XII: 1 Virat Kohli, 2 Faf du Plessis (capt), 3 Rajat Patidar, 4 Glenn Maxwell, 5 Cameron Green, 6 Anuj Rawat (wk), 7 , 8 Reece Topley/Alzarri Joseph, 9 Karn Sharma, 10 Mayank Dagar, 11 Mohammed Siraj, 12 Punjab Kings
If they bat first, Prabhsimran Singh slots in the XI. Arshdeep Singh will replace him in the second innings. Vice versa, if they bowl first.Probable XII: 1 Shikhar Dhawan (capt), 2 Jonny Bairstow, 3 , 4 Sam Curran, 5 Jitesh Sharma (wk), 6 Liam Livingstone, 7 Shashank Singh, 8 Harpreet Brar, 9 Harshal Patel, 10 Kagiso Rabada, 11 Rahul Chahar, 12

Stats that matter

• Kagiso Rabada has a great record against the RCB batters. Against Faf du Plessis: 16 runs in 13 balls, two dismissals. Against Virat Kohli: 27 runs in 24 balls, three dismissals. Against Glenn Maxwell: 23 runs in 20 balls, two dismissals. Against Karthik: 14 runs in 19 balls, three dismissals.
• Harpreet Brar has been Kings’ go-to bowler in the middle overs (7 to 16). Among those who bowled at least ten overs in that phase last season, Brar’s economy of 6.18 was the best. He has a favourable match-up against Maxwell, dismissing him three times in 14 balls. But du Plessis has taken him for 79 runs off 46 balls without getting dismissed.
• Jonny Bairstow has a strike rate of over 200 against each of Mohammed Siraj, Karn Sharma and Maxwell. He has a combined 101 runs in 42 balls against them without getting out even once.
• Kohli has enjoyed batting against Arshdeep and Harshal Patel. Against Arshdeep, he has 44 runs off 23 balls without being dismissed, and against Harshal, 43 in 27 balls for one dismissal. Rahul Chahar, though, has been able to keep him quiet, giving away only 32 runs in 37 balls while getting him out once.
• Karthik has hit Sam Curran for 59 runs in 23 balls without being dismissed.

Pitch and conditions

Since the start of 2018, teams have scored at 9.42 per over at the Chinnaswamy Stadium, the highest scoring rate at any venue that has hosted at least five IPL games. Don’t expect anything different on Monday.The temperature will be around 28C, with no dew expected.

Quotes

“The communication to me has been very clear. I am supposed to be batting down the order but if we lose early wickets, I have to bat in the middle order. Keeping wicket last season in the last couple of games gave me a lot of confidence, and I am looking forward to continuing as a wicketkeeper-batsman this season as well.”

England opener had mustered only 67 runs in seven previous Championship innings this season

ECB Reporters Network19-May-2024England opener Zak Crawley returned to form with a superb double century to lead a stirring Kent fightback on the third day of the Vitality County Championship First Division match with Somerset at Taunton.There were three wickets each for Craig Overton and Migael Pretorius as the visitors were bowled out for 178 in their first innings from an overnight 108 for 5. Only Joe Denly, with 61, offered much resistance and his side followed on 376 runs behind.But it was a different story in the second innings as Crawley and Ben Compton (65) put together an opening stand of 194 in 42 overs.Crawley, who had mustered only 67 runs in seven previous Championship innings this season, fell shortly before the close for 238, having faced 267 balls and hit 31 fours and four sixes. Skipper Daniel Bell-Drummond made 62.At 409 for 5, Kent’s lead at stumps was only 33, but they had given themselves a fighting chance of salvaging an unlikely draw on day four.Despite seamer Josh Davey being unable to bowl because of illness, it took Somerset just an hour and ten minutes to claim the five remaining Kent first-innings wickets when play began in bright sunshine. Unbeaten on 32 overnight, Denly moved untroubled to a 70-ball half-century before a late order collapse.Joey Evison was bowled for 11 aiming to drive Pretorius. Denly responded with two boundaries through the covers off Lewis Gregory’s opening over, but started to run out of partners when Beyers Swanepoel played a strange shot to a wide ball from Gregory and edged to first slip.Kent were 166 for 7 and with only seven runs added, Grant Stewart played back to Pretorius, falling lbw for a single. Somerset wicketkeeper James Rew then added to a list of stunning catches this season by diving low to his left to hold an inside edge from Denly off Craig Overton.When Gregory bowled Nathan Gilchrist for a duck, Kent had added 70 to their overnight total in 15.1 overs. With his bowlers still fresh, Somerset’s skipper had little hesitation in inviting the opposition to bat again.Crawley, dismissed first ball by Overton the previous day, was 23 not out at lunch, with Compton unbeaten on 22 and the first-innings deficit reduced by 47.Warm afternoon sunshine greeted the players after the interval and Crawley was not about to waste ideal batting conditions, with the pitch having flattened out. The tall opener cracked two boundaries off Jack Leach and then three in the next over from Overton.The third took him to a half-century off 68 balls. He and Compton went on to dominate the afternoon session, barely playing a false shot as Gregory switched his bowlers and field placings to no avail. Compton went to an unblemished fifty off 67 deliveries, with nine fours.Crawley reached three figures with a pulled four off the left-arm seam of Tom Lammonby, his 18th boundary of a majestic innings. In desperation, Gregory turned to the occasional off-spin of Matt Renshaw and the Australian obliged with his tenth ball, earning an lbw verdict against Compton with a delivery slanted into his pads.Tea was taken at 197 for 1, with Crawley on 117. There were still 43 overs remaining in an extended day’s play and the final session saw the England player survive a couple of scares when skying shots just beyond the reach of fielders.By the time he lofted an Andy Umeed leg-break over the long-on rope to reach 200, Crawley had faced 242 balls and extended his boundary count to 29 fours and two sixes. With Bell-Drummond looking equally unruffled moving to a 90-ball half-century, Somerset appeared totally frustrated when Leach straightened two deliveries off a good length to lift spirits markedly.They accounted for Bell-Drummond and Marcus O’Riordan, both lbw pushing forward. With Kent just 12 runs ahead at 388 for 3, Somerset took the second new ball, knowing there were just six overs were left in the day’s play.It accounted for Crawley, caught behind off Pretorius aiming a back-foot forcing shot through the off-side, and nightwatcher Gilchrist, bowled by Pretorius off what proved the final ball of the day.

The 37-year-old hasn’t played international cricket since 2020 but remained available until he missed out on the 2024 T20 World Cup squad

Alex Malcolm10-May-2024Colin Munro has announced his retirement from international cricket after missing out on New Zealand’s T20 World Cup 2024 squad.Munro had made himself available for the upcoming T20 World Cup despite not playing an international for New Zealand since 2020 and was in consideration. New Zealand coach Gary Stead confirmed that Munro was discussed at the selection table when the squad was announced but said there was no room for the veteran left-hander.Despite making the move to play franchise cricket full-time over the last four years, Munro had not given up on adding to his 123 caps for New Zealand. But at 37, he has formally called time on his international career although he will continue playing franchise cricket.Related

• Munro steps up in 'mentor' McCullum's role

• 'They said my method wouldn't work at Test level. I fit the Bazball mould'

• Conway named in Williamson-led New Zealand T20 World Cup squad

• Munro 'potentially still an option' for New Zealand's T20 World Cup squad

“Playing for the Black Caps has always been the biggest achievement in my playing career,” Munro said. “I never felt prouder than donning that jersey, and the fact that I’ve been able to do that 123 times across all formats is something I will always be incredibly proud of.”Although it has been a while since my last appearance, I never gave up hope that I might be able to return off the back of my franchise T20 form. With the announcement of the Black Caps squad for the T20 World Cup now is the perfect time to close that chapter officially.”Munro played one Test, 57 ODIs and 65 T20Is for New Zealand. He excelled in the shortest form scoring three centuries, including a 47-ball hundred against West Indies in 2018 which was a New Zealand record at the time. He also has made a 14-ball half-century against Sri Lanka which remains a Black Caps record and is the fourth fastest in T20I cricket.New Zealand Cricket chief executive Scott Weenink said Munro would be remembered as a pioneering short-form batter for New Zealand.”Colin was one of our first players to embrace the aggressive, 360-degree style batting that is now accepted all around the world as best practice,” Weenink said.”He was one of the pioneers of the new game, an innovative batsman who took calculated risk-taking to a new level, and led what was to become a revolution in the way short-form cricket was played. We thank him for his amazing contribution in more than hundred international games, and wish him well in his future pursuits.”

The final decision was made on the eve of the game, after he passed a fitness test

Danyal Rasool08-Jun-2024Pakistan were forced into a late call over the inclusion of Imad Wasim ahead of Sunday’s group game against India, but received good news on that front: the allrounder was passed fit after a fitness test on the eve of the game. Coach Gary Kirsten confirmed this at Pakistan’s pre-match press conference.Ten days earlier the PCB had said Imad missed the final game of the T20I series against England for “precautionary reasons” with a suspected rib injury, but then he also missed Pakistan’s first game at the World Cup against USA.Imad’s return will be a big boost for Pakistan: in his absence, they had struggled to balance the side. They decided to go into the game against USA with an out-of-form Azam Khan and Shadab Khan as the only specialist spinner, despite lingering concerns about his ability with the ball.Related

• The curious case of Pakistan's World Cup 15

• Pakistan's predicament adds spice to India match-up in New York

• Babar Azam admits Pakistan were 'not up to the mark' in bowling

• Pakistan's self-doubt and uncertainty clear for all to see

• Imad Wasim comes out of retirement for T20 World Cup

Azam was dismissed for a golden duck, while Shadab came in for pointed criticism by his captain Babar Azam, when he said following the loss that Pakistan’s “spinners” (Iftikhar Ahmed, the part-timer, was the other option and bowled just one over) struggled to pick up wickets.Now, Imad is likely to slot into the XI in Azam’s place.While this specific rib niggle – the PCB officially called it “discomfort in his right rib cage’ – has not been an issue for Imad in the past, he has struggled with a range of injuries. He has nursed a knee injury for much of his career which inhibited his ability to play the longer formats.Ahead of the 2019 World Cup, he was given extra time to pass a fitness test due to his chronic knee injury, and he initially retired from the international game in 2023.On his return earlier this year, he made it clear he was not signing a central contract, and had only returned for this particular World Cup.

Brutal century and rapid five-for power Glamorgan to 120-run win

ECB Reporters Network19-Jul-2024Kiran Carlson’s magnificent century ended Glamorgan’s 2024 Vitality Blast campaign in record-breaking fashion with a convincing 120-run win over Somerset.The Glamorgan captain’s hard hitting 135 from just 64 balls after winning the toss and opting to bat got the hosts to the highest total of the 2024 blast with 243 for four before Somerset fell to 123 all out.Marnus Labuschagne collapsed the Somerset tail with the final seven wickets falling for just 35 runs thanks to a 15-ball spell taking figures of five for 11 including a triple-wicket maiden.Glamorgan’s win was in vain as they finished the Blast in sixth in the South Group while Somerset have qualified for the quarter final, although they await a result from Sussex for who their opposition will be.Glamorgan’s record-breaking innings started with no sense of abnormality with Craig Overton’s first over of the match going for seven runs. However, 16 and 15 coming from the second and fifth over respectively helped Glamorgan to 66 without loss from the first six overs.Carlson’s blistering start, in particular, didn’t look like coming to an end as he brought up his fifty after 28 deliveries.England international Jack Leach showed his experience as he allowed just four singles from the eighth over but the Glamorgan captain and Will Smale’s destructive opening partnership of 169 demonstrated no change in fortune for Somerset.Carlson and Smale then brought up their personal milestones in successive overs. Carlson’s first ever century in T20 cricket followed by Smale’s first ever half-century in professional cricket, the latter including a ramp for six off Somerset seamer Riley Merideth despite two fielders behind the wicketkeeper placed on the boundary.The partnership eventually came to an end when Smale holed out to Sean Dickson at deep midwicket off Ben Green.Colin Ingram’s partnership of 44 with the centurion kept the run rate flying towards the highest total in Glamorgan’s blast history.Carlson’s knock came to an end in the 18th over when he played Merideth up to Tom Abell at mid off, walking off with the highest score by an individual in a T20 for Glamorgan.It became 234 for three as Chris Cooke’s 10-ball cameo of 16 was ended by an impressive boundary catch by a hopping Overton off Green’s bowling.Jake Ball ended his spell with the best economical figures (zero for 38) with some smart right-arm-around-the-wicket wide yorkers to restrict the final over to nine; Ingram run out off the final ball for 21.Somerset’s unlikely pursuit began strongly with 25 coming from Douthwaite in the second over. 36 for no loss from two overs quickly became 40 for two just five balls later with Timm van der Gugten picking up the wickets of Tom Banton and Tom Kohler-Cadmore in consecutive deliveries.Kellaway picked up his first ever Blast wicket when George Thomas miscued the 20-year-old off-spinner to cover for 16, leaving the total identical to Glamorgan’s 66 from the powerplay.Runs continued to flow for the west countrymen, however it didn’t stop continuous wickets. Dickson (12) and Abell (29) both getting starts before the introduction of Marnus Labuschagne into the bowling attack in his final Glamorgan match of 2024 brought a collapse.

Riley Meredith has been called up for the three-match series after Hazlewood suffered a minor calf strain

Andrew McGlashan23-Aug-2024Josh Hazlewood will miss the T20I series against Scotland next month after suffering a calf strain during training last week.Riley Meredith, who played the last of his five T20Is in 2021, has been added to the squad. Hazlewood’s injury is described as minor and he is expected to be available for the T20Is and ODIs against England later in September although the selectors may take a cautious approach ahead of a busy home summer which includes five Tests against India.Related

• Somerset secure knockout spot as Riley Meredith rips through Middlesex

• Scotland call up Charlie Cassell and Jasper Davidson for Australia T20Is

• Spencer Johnson ruled out of UK tour, Sean Abbott called up

Meredith has been played for Somerset in white-ball cricket during the English season. He took 14 wickets at 22.78 in the T20 Blast and six wickets in three one-day cup games, including 4 for 27 against Middlesex at Lord’s, where Somerset have reached the final. He has taken eight T20I wickets having played against New Zealand and West Indies three years ago.Hazlewood is the second quick bowler ruled out of the squad after Spencer Johnson picked up a side strain playing in the Hundred.The pace attack for the Scotland series will now feature Meredith, Xavier Bartlett, Sean Abbott and Nathan Ellis alongside allrounders Cameron Green, Aaron Hardie and Marcus Stoinis plus potentially captain Mitchell Marsh. Adam Zampa and the uncapped Cooper Connolly will provide the spin.Hazlewood had been the only one of Australia’s big three quicks initially included for the full tour of the UK. Mitchell Starc will feature in the ODIs against England while Pat Cummins is missing the entire trip to focus on strength and condition ahead of the home summer.”The priority at the moment is to smash out some gym work and start reassessing in a few weeks a path forward,” Cummins said last week. “I’m just trying to fill up the bucket again after two years of non-stop bowling. [Hoping] come that first Test [against India] in as good of a position as I have been in for a few years.”Australia fly out to Scotland on Monday with the first T20I taking place in Edinburgh on September 4.

Australia T20I squad vs Scotland

Mitchell Marsh (capt), Sean Abbott, Xavier Bartlett, Cooper Connolly, Tim David, Nathan Ellis, Jake Fraser-McGurk, Cameron Green, Aaron Hardie, Travis Head, Josh Inglis (wk), Riley Meredith, Marcus Stoinis, Adam Zampa

Their series win against NZ allows Sri Lanka to ponder the prospect of a WTC final berth next year

Madushka Balasuriya29-Sep-2024Sri Lanka’s dominant series win against New Zealand has been one to savour not just for the way they won the second Test but also because it allows, even fleetingly, for them to ponder the prospect of a World Test Championship [WTC] final berth next year.As things stand Sri Lanka are placed third behind Australia and India on the WTC points table, but only 6.94 percentage points behind second-placed Australia, with a home tour against them to come in this cycle.Captain Dhananjaya de Silva, who has navigated Sri Lanka to their best year in Tests since 2006, is not getting too far ahead of himself. Before that Australia series, the next port of call for the Test side will be in South Africa in November-December.Related

• Jayasuriya takes charge: 'It's about confidence and trust, and a little bit of luck'

• Stats – Kamindu's dream start in Test cricket puts him alongside Bradman

• Kamindu adds another banger to his growing list of hits

• 'I didn't feel he was on debut' – Jayasuriya lauds Peiris for 'showing Test potential'

• Peiris, Jayasuriya crush New Zealand to hand Sri Lanka series sweep

“We’re only looking at it from one match to another,” Dhananjaya said when asked about his side’s WTC final prospects. “If you look too far ahead you can miss out on what’s immediately important.”It’s what I always tell the young players as well, if you do what’s required from one match to another, then what needs to happen in the points table will take care of itself.”Among those young players is Kamindu Mendis, Dhananjaya’s junior back in their school days at Richmond College who has fast become an integral part of the Test side.But despite that years-old connection, there was no room for sentiment when Dhananjaya called for a first-innings declaration with Kamindu 18 short of a maiden double century. Asked if he had been tempted to continue through till Kamindu reached the milestone, de Silva explained that it was not a decision he would take if it meant impacting the team negatively.”More than Kamindu’s double hundred, I wanted Kusal Mendis to get a hundred because he hadn’t scored one in quite some time,” he said. “But once we got to that point in the match, I think that was the best decision to take.”Kamindu, who sat beside his captain at the post-match press briefing, was quick to back up his skipper when questioned on the same.”We had put a big total on the board, even at lunch I had 136. So the plan even then was to score a little bit more and then put them into bat,” Kamindu said. “I think the decision was taken at the right time because we all know that in Galle batting in the last hour is quite difficult. And I think it’s because of that decision that we were able to bowl them out the following morning.”Nishan Peiris finished with nine wickets in his debut Test•AP

With two wickets picked up in the dying minutes of day two, Sri Lanka rolled New Zealand over for 88 on the third morning to all but guarantee the win. A bulk of the damage in the game was done by another youngster, Nishan Peiris.The 27-year-old offspinner who was making his debut ended up with nine wickets in a stellar first Test outing, and Dhananjaya revealed it was his particular skillset that bolstered the team following a hard-fought first Test.”Nishan had bowled really well in domestic cricket for quite some time, and what I had stressed on was to bring in a bowler that could keep the economy rate low, especially on a turning track,” Dhananjaya said. “That’s how you put pressure on the opposition, with Prabath [Jayasuriya] at the other end. And I think he did his job excellently in this game.”With six Test wins this year, Sri Lanka have moved up to fifth in the Test rankings. For Dhananjaya, this has been reward for the work the side has put in, and the bench strength they’ve developed.”I have been part of the side for six years and we’ve always wanted to come up in rankings but we tried and failed,” he said. “We just couldn’t get the right team makeup, but we have got it right now. And now we also have combinations that can work on any surface, both at home and overseas.”

Toby Roland-Jones ensures battle with Yorkshire for last promotion spot moves into last week of the summer

ECB Reporters Network19-Sep-2024Middlesex wrapped up their fifth win of the Division Two season to keep their Vitality County Championship promotion challenge mathematically alive after a dismal Derbyshire succumbed to a three-day defeat by an innings and 66 runs at the Incora County Ground.With skipper Toby Roland-Jones continuing his impressive streak of form with another five-wicket haul, Derbyshire, 74 for 3 overnight, were shot out for 119 after 87 minutes of the day’s only session.Roland-Jones finished with 5 for 38 for match figures of 10 for 72. The 36-year-old seamer has taken five wickets or more in six of his last nine innings to total 52 wickets for the season. Ethan Bamber and leg spinner Luke Hollman picked up two wickets each, with 20-year-old left-arm seamer Noah Cornwell completing their demise with his maiden first-class wicket.The result means the race for promotion goes down to the final round, although last week’s defeat against Gloucestershire at Lord’s left the odds stacked heavily against Middlesex. The loss handed second-placed Yorkshire a 15-point advantage going into this week’s games.A seventh defeat of the season means that Derbyshire are almost certain to finish bottom of Division Two for the first time since 2016 after a poor
season under head coach Mickey Arthur. It will be the 16th time in their Championship history that Derbyshire have finished bottom of the pile, comfortably ahead of nearest challengers Somerset.On a lively pitch that made life difficult for batters against both the quicker bowlers and spinners, Derbyshire lost their last eight wickets for 45 runs. Veteran Wayne Madsen top-scored with a modest 32, and concussion stand-in Mitch Wagstaff made 27.In gloomy conditions that required the floodlights to be on at the start, the breakthrough that Middlesex made when Wagstaff was out in the last over of day two opened the way to four more wickets in the first 45 minutes as Derbyshire subsided somewhat feebly. Madsen, who had helped Wagstaff add 58 for the third wicket, was the first to go, edging behind off Bamber.If the Derbyshire veteran was undone by a fine delivery, there was less that could be said in mitigation as David Lloyd pulled straight to midwicket, handing a second wicket to the Warwickshire-bound Bamber. Aneurin Donald, dropped at backward point the ball before Lloyd departed, added only one more run before giving Roland-Jones a low return catch, then Zak Chappell edged his first ball to gully.Those two in two balls took the Middlesex captain to 51 wickets for the season, the 36-year-old seamer’s second half-century in three seasons and evidence of why the county have offered him a contract extension while letting other senior players move on.Harry Moore was caught behind off an inside edge to give Roland-Jones his second five-for of the match before Jack Morley edged low to slip off Hollman and Cornwell bowled Alex Thomson with the fourth ball of his solitary over.

The fast bowler was making a careful return to play early in the season after a winter overcoming a back injury

Andrew McGlashan12-Oct-2024Quick bowler Lance Morris has suffered an injury setback having picked up a quad strain in training although it is hoped the layoff will be brief with the aim to return before the end of the month.Morris, who faced South Australia in Sydney in late September as part of a carefully managed return to action after another winter recovering from back problems, will miss Western Australia’s one-day game against Queensland on Sunday but is targeting the October 25 clash with Tasmania at the WACA as a return.Related

• Cricket Australia looks to unify approach to managing quicks

• Morris hopeful of early Shield return despite 'frustrating' injury issues

• McAndrew five-for inspires SA to stunning victory against WA

A fully fit Morris, who made his international debut against West Indies last season, would be in contention for the Australia A four-day or Australia ODI squads which are due to be named early next week. He was a regular around the Test squad last season.Speaking last month, Morris had hoped to play Sheffield Shield cricket in the early part of the season but now won’t be in contention to face Tasmania from October 20. After that, WA’s next Shield match starts against Tasmania on November 1 which overlaps with the first Australia A game against India A and the start of the ODI series against Pakistan.”Frustrating to have to stop for a couple of months. I’m at that stage in my career with a Cricket Australia contract…. it’s a transition into a 12-month cricketer,” he told ESPNcricinfo. “But the silver lining is I’ve stayed fit and I feel stronger than ever. Whereas if I ignored it and cracked on with things, there’s every likelihood that I would spend 12 months on the sidelines.”Meanwhile, Mahli Beardman is in line for his first game of the season following the shock call-up to Australia’s squad in England last month. Beardman, who has only played one professional game for WA, was never officially added to the touring party having been brought in as cover amid a list of injuries to the fast bowlers.Western Australia squad Ashton Turner (capt), Ashton Agar, Cameron Bancroft, Mahli Beardman, Cooper Connolly, Hilton Cartwright, Josh Inglis, Bryce Jackson, Jhye Richardson, D’Arcy Short, Andrew Tye, Sam WhitemanQueensland squad Marnus Labuschagne (capt), Hugo Burdon, Jack Clayton, Lachlan Hearne, Usman Khawaja, Ben McDermott, Michael Neser, Matt Renshaw, Mark Steketee, Tom Straker, Mitch Swepson, Tom Whitney, Jack Wildermuth