AUSTRALIAN captain Steve Smith and vice-captain David Warner have been named in a star-studded NSW Blues squad, alongside Nowra’s Nic Maddinson, to meet South Australia in a day/night Sheffield Shield match at the Adelaide Oval, beginning on Friday.
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They are joined by current and recent Test players Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins, Nathan Lyon, Peter Nevill, Nic Maddinson, Moises Henriques and Trent Copeland, while Sean Abbott has played white ball cricket for Australia.
Kurtis Patterson was picked to represent Australia A at the end of last season while Daniel Hughes, 28, has been in exceptional form during the recently completed JLT One-Day Cup, scoring 379 runs at an average of 63.16.
The imposing depth at NSW has forced veteran opener Ed Cowan out of the team despite his stella performance last season, when he was the leading run-scorer in Sheffield Shield cricket with 959 runs at 73.77 including three centuries.
Blues coach Trent Johnston described the decision to overlook Cowan, 35, as the toughest of his coaching tenure.
“NSW is fortunate that we have a wealth of talent available for our first game,” Johnston said.
“It was always going to be a tough decision. We had to weight up past form with current form.
“Ed has been outstanding during the Sheffield Shield over the past two seasons and has an excellent record against the pink ball.
“Daniel Hughes has been in terrific form during the JLT Cup so there were lengthy discussions.
“Finally we decided to go with Dan in that last batting spot.
“It wasn’t easy – there were a lot of things we had to weigh up and consider.”
NSW squad: Steve Smith ©, Sean Abbott, Trent Copeland, Pat Cummins, Moises Henriques, Daniel Hughes, Nathan Lyon, Nic Maddinson, Peter Nevill, Kurtis Patterson, Mitchell Starc and David Warner.