VICTORIA will take a strong 15-player touring party, featuring Nowra's Nic Maddinson, to Perth for its opening two matches of the 2019 Marsh One-Day Cup.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Peter Handscomb will captain the side on his return from a stint in the United Kingdom with county side Durham, with Aaron Finch and Glenn Maxwell also returning from county commitments following Australia's World Cup campaign prior to the Ashes.
Up and coming youngsters Sam Harper, Mackenzie Harvey, Will Pucovski and Will Sutherland have also been selected to travel in a group stacked with experience.
Cricket Victoria chairman of selectors Andrew Lynch said:
"The group we've chosen to travel for these first two games is a really good mix of experience and exciting young talent," Lynch said.
"They're all looking forward to getting to Perth and officially getting our 2019-20 season underway,
"We're obviously missing Marcus Harris, Peter Siddle and James Pattinson who are still on the Ashes tour with the Australian side, but this a very strong group of players who can begin our title defence on the right foot.
"It's exciting to have Aaron Finch available, he missed this tournament last year with national commitments so he brings enormous experience to our line-up and can obviously be a help to Peter Handscomb who will captain the side."
Related content: JLT Cup glory for Nic Maddinson's Victorian team
The group will take part in two practice matches in the lead up to Victoria's opening game of the Marsh One-Day Cup against Western Australia at the WACA Ground on Saturday, September 21.
Victoria will then face Tasmania at the WACA Ground on Monday, September 23.
The match against Western Australia will start at 4pm AEST and the match against Tasmania will start at 12pm AEST.
Scheduling of the Marsh One-Day Cup has been changed from previous seasons, with the competition no longer running in a single block of games prior to the Marsh Sheffield Shield.
The Marsh Sheffield Shield will then begin on October 10 after half the 50-over games have been played, with the remaining 11 one-dayers to be played in two more separate blocks in late-October and mid-November before culminating with the final on November 26.
Joining Maddinson in the squad are Peter Handscomb, Scott Boland, Jackson Coleman, Travis Dean, Andrew Fekete, Aaron Finch, Sam Harper, Mackenzie Harvey, Jon Holland, Glenn Maxwell, Will Pucovski, Matthew Short, Will Sutherland and Chris Tremain.