Western Australia will be missing two of its biggest talents for this weekend’s Marsh Cup final against New South Wales in Sydney, with all-rounders Aaron Hardie and Cameron Green ruled out of the contest.
On Friday, Western Australian confirmed that Hardie failed to recover from a calf injury he sustained during last week’s Sheffield Shield match against Tasmania, while Green will miss the clash as he prepares to join Australia’s Test squad in Wellington.
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Having won the previous two titles in 2022 and 2023, Western Australia is hoping to become the first state to complete a three-peat in the tournament since New South Wales achieved the feat 21 years ago.
The Blues won hosting rights for the Marsh Cup final after finishing top of the ladder, while Western Australia snuck into the knock-out match after defeating Tasmania by 52 runs in Hobart last week.
Western Australia’s squad has been bolstered by the return of left-armed quicks Joel Paris and Jason Behrendorff, who last month was named Australia’s men’s T20 player of the year. Paris has been the state’s leading wicket-taker in the Sheffield Shield this season with 30 scalps at 14.70, but he is yet to make an appearance in this summer’s Marsh Cup.
Young gun Cooper Connolly and Under-19 World Cup champion Mahli Beardman have also been named in Western Australia’s 13-player squad, while New South Wales spinner Nathan Lyon has been ruled out due to Test commitments.
Former Australian representatives Ashton Agar, Cameron Bancroft, Hilton Cartwright, Josh Philippe, D’Arcy Short, Andrew Tye, Jackson Bird, Chris Green, Tanveer Sangha, Ben Dwarshuis and Moises Henriques are also expected to feature, while bowlers Lance Morris and Jhye Richardson were unavailable for selection due to injury.
Silverwater’s Cricket Central will host the Marsh Cup final, which gets underway on Sunday at 10.05am AEDT, because the SCG was unavailable due to preparations for the AFL season.
“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,” West Australian coach Adam Voges told 6PR Perth this week.
“We’ll know the conditions … it’s a wicket that certainly kept a little low and was a little bit inconsistent in bounce.”
New South Wales squad
Jackson Bird, Joel Davies, Ollie Davies, Ben Dwarshuis, Jack Edwards, Matthew Gilkes, Chris Green, Liam Hatcher, Moises Henriques (c), Daniel Hughes, Blake Macdonald, Jack Nisbet, William Salzmann, Tanveer Sangha
West Australian squad
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
