Tuesday's centurion Mitch Marsh is among five changes to the
Warriors side for the upcoming Bupa Sheffield Shield clash with the Tasmanian
Tigers which begins at the WACA Ground on Thursday.
The WACA State Match Committee has named a 12-man squad for
the contest where a Warriors win could see the side move up as high as third on
the Shield table following the victory over the XXXX Gold Queensland Bulls
earlier this month.
Skipper Adam Voges (Australia A duty), Shaun Marsh (hamstring) and Nathan
Coulter-Nile (groin) are all unavailable, while Jason Behrendorff is out with a minor hip injury.
Marsh, who made a superb ton in Tuesday's RYOBI One-Day Cup
loss to the Tigers, returns to the side after several months out following a
hamstring injury.
Along with Marsh, comes in Luke Towers, Burt Cockley, Ryan
Duffield and Tim Armstrong who have all been performing well in the WADCCI
District First Grade competiton.
Ashton Agar, who has spent the past 10 days in India
training with the Australian Test squad, has been named in the squad too after
arriving back in Perth on Tuesday afternoon.
Warriors coach Justin Langer said Marsh had earned his spot
in the side despite just returning from injury, after his fine century in
Tuesday's one-day game.
"We keep saying
we need to reward performance and the way he batted on Tuesday warrants his
selection," Langer said.
"But Mitch has also done everything asked of him from a
rehab point of view, so we're delighted to have him back."
Duffield returns to the WA side for the first time this
season, having taken 41 wickets in 14 games in all District competitions for
Melville, who have won both the T20 and One Day titles this season.
"We've worked him very hard to improve his fitness this
summer," Langer said. "All indications are he's done the work and is
ready to go. We have also rewarded him for his club cricket performances."
Cockley, who made his WA debut in Tuesday's RYOBI Cup game
and took two wickets, has also been rewarded for good district form with Midland-Guildford
having taken 24 scalps in the past four two-day matches.
"We've also rewarded his excellent performances at
District level. He showed in the RYOBI Cup he can be a very dynamic bowler for
us," Langer said.
Top-order batsman Towers has also been named to make his WA
return, with his last First Class game ironically coming exactly two years ago
against Tasmania. All-rounder Armstrong has been in super form in the district
competition, making 418 runs and taking 29 wickets for Fremantle and is in line
to make his Sheffield Shield debut.
The match commences at 10.30am Perth time with ball-by-ball live
radio coverage on 91.3 Sport FM as well as updates on 720 and ABC Grandstand Digital, with ball-by-ball live coverage from 4.35pm on Saturday and 3.30pm Sunday.
Warriors Team - Bupa Sheffield Shield v Tasmanian Tigers, Thursday-Sunday 21-24 February, WACA Ground
WA: Michael Hussey (c), Liam Davis, Sam Whiteman, Mitch
Marsh, Marcus Harris, Ashton Agar, John Rogers, Michael Hogan, Ryan Duffield,
Luke Towers, Tim Armstrong, Burt Cockley
Tasmania: George Bailey (c), Jason Krejza, Evan Gulbis, Jon
Wells, Adam Maher, Ricky Ponting, Alex Doolan, Ben Hilfenhaus, Luke Butterworth, Jordan
Silk, James Faulkner, Ben Dunk, Mark Cosgrove
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