Victoria Leaves Out Harwood

The Age

Friday November 10, 2006

By LYALL JOHNSON

VICTORIA again has erred on the side of caution with injured paceman Shane Harwood, selecting Essendon quick Clinton McKay in the squad for both the Pura Cup and Ford Ranger Cup one-day matches against a strong Tasmanian team, which will be led by Australian skipper Ricky Ponting.

McKay, who is yet to make Victoria's first XI, was 12th man for the thrilling Pura Cup win last month over South Australia and was flown to Perth as a possible late replacement for Harwood for the first-round match against Western Australia, the game in which Harwood ultimately injured his side.

Victorian assistant and bowling coach David Saker said it was not worth risking Harwood in case he broke down further.

Harwood's omission from the Ford Ranger Cup game, which is being played on Sunday at the MCG, is the only change to the Victorian squad that lost to WA in the first round of the domestic one-day series.

"Shane is a very important player for us and we don't want to risk bringing him back too early in case we lose him for maybe six to eight weeks. It's too risky to take him into a four-day game because if he breaks down in the first innings, the rest of the bowlers have to pick up the slack and it's never too easy," Saker said.

"We'll have a good look at the wicket and when we assess the conditions, if we think we need another quick bowler, we'll go that way, but the two all-rounders have done well for us so far. And when you've got Shane Warne in your side, you can probably go with one less quick because he's going to bowl so many overs for you."

McKay has been pressing strongly for senior Bushrangers selection, last week taking 6-34 for Victoria's second XI against Tasmania in the Cricket Australia Cup in a bowling display that included a hat-trick.

"I've always liked watching young fast bowlers get an opportunity and his performances in second XI have been good enough to warrant consideration by the selectors," Saker said.

Victoria v Tasmania

Venue: MCG

Start time: 11.15am

Admission price: Adult $10, Child (u/16) $5, Family $15

Victorian Bushrangers squad:

Cameron White (c), Mick Lewis, Adam Crosthwaite, Grant Lindsay, Gerard Denton, Andrew McDonald, Brad Hodge, Clinton McKay, David Hussey, Jonathan Moss, Michael Klinger, Robert Quiney.

Tasmanian Tigers squad:

Ricky Ponting (c), Daniel Marsh, George Bailey, Travis Birt, Luke Butterworth, Sean Clingeleffer, Michael Di Venuto, Brendan Drew, Brett Geeves, Adam Griffith, Ben Hilfenhaus, Tim Paine.

© 2006 The Age

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