Wagga City batsman Rob Nicoll will return to the top order for tomorrow’s mammoth clash with South Wagga.
WAGGA City captain Dean Crane will put his A-team to the ultimate test against ladder-leader South Wagga tomorrow.
Crane finally has his full-strength team on the paddock for this weekend's blockbuster clash with South Wagga with the return of Rob Nicoll and the arrival of Matthew Roylance.
Nicoll missed last week's Twenty20 and will assume his new position as opening batsman, while Roylance has moved to Wagga to play football and will slot straight into the middle order.
Canberra recruit Jon Nicoll now has a game under his belt and with a handful of players back from mid-season injury, the Cats will field what will basically be their finals line-up.
Crane was thrilled to get his best 11 playing together and was looking forward to seeing them in action against the Blues.
"This is a good chance to get everyone together and see how we gel on the field," Crane said.
"Especially against South Wagga the top team it will definitely be a good test for us."
Evan Smith and Dale Ingram will make way for the return of Nicoll and Roylance.
Roylance comes to the city from Forbes to play rugby league with Wagga Kangaroos and Crane had no hesitation rocketing him straight into first grade.
"He hasn't played for a while so he was a bit rusty with the bat at training on Tuesday," Crane said.
"But he was fielding awesome ... he looks like he will be good for us."
Rob Nicoll will now partner Josh Thompson as opener, while Jon Nicoll will bat first drop and Aaron Maxwell will move to the middle order.
Crane is confident the new order will suit the 80-over matches.
He hopes to showcase the potential of his full-strength outfit with a win this weekend, but knows South Wagga will be no push-over.
"Obviously Joel (Robinson) and Alex Jones are their main batsmen, so we will need to put the pressure on them," he said.
"I think we've got the bowlers to do that well.
"They have a lot of spin options with the ball too and that is something we've worked on at training."
Crane said the transition from Twenty20 cricket to two-day matches would be a challenge, but was looking forward to getting into the longer format heading into finals.