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Both the New South Wales Blues and South Australia Redbacks will be looking to add to their strong opening day wins when they take to the field at North Sydney Oval in the 2015 One-Day Cup. Join The Roar for live scores and commentary from 9.45am (AEDT).
EXPERT OPINION: One Day Cup will decide Australian Test selections
The announcement on October 2nd that the players selected for Australia’s cancelled tour of Bangladesh would be available for the Matador Cup would’ve received very mixed reactions among the state sides.
New South Wales had the largest number of players returning with five in total joining up with what was an already formidable side.
On the other hand, South Australia had none of their players selected for the national team and therefore remain unchanged and at a potential disadvantage.
It seemed a disadvantage that had the potential to end South Australia’s tournament before it started. They have struggled in recent editions of this competition, finishing bottom of the table in the last two years and only registering one victory in each.
On Monday though having chased down 350 against last year’s champions, Western Australia, they may be expecting better things this season.
It was South Australia’s new captain Travis Head who led the chase with a blistering 202, only the third List A double-century by an Australian cricketer. Callum Ferguson, who may well have had his own ambitions for the captaincy, having much more experience than Head, put in a classy performance of his own with an unbeaten 112.
New South Wales meanwhile took on the new Cricket Australia XI and were never challenged. Australian captain Steve Smith won the toss before top scoring with 143 not out, while Nic Maddison made 108 as New South Wales made 338.
Mitchell Starc then ripped through the young batting order, taking 6 for 25 as they claimed the biggest win in Australian domestic one-day history, knocking the Cricket Australia XI over for 59.
Regardless of the international players, New South Wales certainly have a strong squad with plenty of depth. Nic Maddison showed this in their first game, and last year when these sides met setting up a New South Wales victory, scoring 84 from just 54 balls.
The match ended up being a close affair, though it is worth remembering that South Australia were being driven forward by their then captain Johan Botha. While the depth he offered with the bat was not missed on Monday his control with the ball certainly was.
North Sydney Oval favours batsmen and for this reason there are likely to be a lot of runs scored when the two teams meet. But the immense strength of the returning Test players means New South Wales are definite favourites.
Join The Roar for live scores and discussion in our live blog from 10:00am (AEDT).