Bellerive Oval, Hobart
10:30am Tuesday November 17-Friday November 20
Top-level domestic cricket heads to Tassie for the first time this year for the inaugural Duckman cup. Cameron Borgas got rid of that title with 196 without being dismissed in the last game, and Jason Krejza secured it with his fourth duck of the season against NSW. That may influence Tassie selection because they have to find room for Brett Geeves who has supposedly recovered from a side strain in a week - they brought in a batsman for him in Sydney but with their tail having been useless in 3 out of 5 innings (6 from the last 5 in Adelaide, 17 from Geeves and 0 from the other 4 in Brisbane, 13 from the last 4 in Sydney) that will work in favour of giving Birt another chance (he made just 8 in Sydney) and dumping Drew or Macdonald, who each took just one wicket in each innings, taking their season tallies to 3 and 4 respectively. James Faulkner's also in the squad as an option, and an argument could be made that he, Geeves, Butterworth and Krejza is the best attack they have, and would allow one of the other quicks to stay instead of Birt while still having some runs in the tail, which will be even better if Tim Paine is available for the next game against WA.
Pretty predictable changes for SA, who can temporarily go to the top of the table with any points, but haven't won a Shield game in Tassie since 2001. Duval's back and walks straight back in, Cosgrove's back and walks straight back in, Manou's back and walks straight back in. Ludeman drops out for Manou, Borgas keeps his spot leaving the out of form Tom Cooper to make way for Cossie, and Cullen Bailey goes after being outbowled by O'Brien in both games (albeit with O'Brien getting a lot more help from the skipper) - two spinners in Tassie doesn't happen. The slightly surprising decision is that they've kept Weeks in the squad, it seems he must be a very good drinks waiter.
The lights may be switched on for the first time on Friday with a rainy day forecast.
Tasmania XII:
Ed Cowan
Jonathan Wells
Alex Doolan
Travis Birt
*George Bailey
Dan Marsh
Luke Butterworth
James Faulkner
Brett Geeves
Jason Krejza
+Brady Jones
Brendan Drew
Tim Macdonald
In:
Faulkner
Geeves
South Australia XII:
James Smith
Dan Harris
Michael Klinger
Mark Cosgrove
Cameron Borgas
*+Graham Manou
Aaron O'Brien
Dan Christian
Matthew Weeks
Chris Duval
Jake Haberfield
Peter George
In:
Cosgrove
Manou
Weeks
Duval
Out:
Tom Cooper
Tim Ludeman
Cullen Bailey
Weather:
Fine and low 20s until Friday when rain arrives and drops the temperature to 17
Session Times
First session: 10:30am-12:30pm
Second session: 1:10-3:10pm
Third session: 3:30-5:30pm
Points Table:
Victoria - 8 (2)
South Australia - 8 (3)
Queensland - 8 (3)
Western Australia - 4 (3)
Tasmania - 2 (3)
New South Wales - 0 (2)
Coverage:
Cricket Australia's scorecard
Tickets:
Adults - $8
Concession/Children - $4
Family - $16