Smith and Starc in New South Wales Sheffield Shield squad

Steven Smith and Mitchell Starc will play for New South Wales against Victoria in the Sheffield Shield at the MCG from Sunday as they ramp up preparations for the international summer.

Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood won’t feature in the Shield contest but are in line to play the One-Day Cup fixture at Junction Oval on October 25. Cummins is not expected to play any red-ball cricket before the Test series against India while the same may now apply to Hazlewood with the third round of Shield overlapping with the start of the ODI series against Pakistan.

Sean Abbott will also return for NSW after sitting out the opening round after picking up a minor injury late in the England tour while Nathan Lyon, who took eight wickets against South Australia, will again feature.

Victoria are expected to include Scott Boland in what shapes as a fascinating contest with 19-year-old opener Sam Konstas who was called up to the Australia A squad earlier this week after his twin hundreds against South Australia.

Starc last played a Shield match in the 2020-21 final against Queensland while Smith’s previous outing was against Victoria in February 2021.

Matthew Gilkes, Ryan Hadley and Liam Hatcher drop out of the group that drew with South Australia at Cricket Central earlier this month.

Further squads will be named in the coming days.

New South Wales squad Sean Abbott, Jackson Bird, Ollie Davies, Jack Edwards, Moises Henriques, Sam Konstas, Nathan Lyon, Nic Maddinson, Jack Nisbet, Josh Philippe, Tanveer Sangha, Steven Smith, Mitchell Starc