Aggressive: NSW quick Josh Hazlewood.Photo: Graham Tidy
NSW are expected to fly in the face of the Sydney Cricket Ground's reputation as a spin bowler's paradise to unleash a five-pronged pace attack in Sunday's domestic one-day competition final against Western Australia.
After they played their part to defeat Queensland at Blacktown on Friday night, pacemen Josh Hazlewood, Gurinder Sandhu, Pat Cummins, Doug Bollinger and Sean Abbott might all be instructed by coach Trevor Bayliss to unleash hell against the impressive West Australians.
If the Blues win it will be the first time in nine years they have captured the one-day title since they defeated South Australia in Adelaide. Cummins, who has returned from a series of injuries to so far take nine wickets in the tournament, was excited by the challenge of stepping up again.
"We're missing 10 players – including our spinners – to international duties and injury, but to be able to field an all-pace attack that's going well is very enjoyable," Cummins said. "It shows we're not only fortunate to have a lot of depth but a big portion of the squad is also fit and firing."
NSW's top spinners, Stephen O'Keefe and Nathan Lyon, are in Dubai for the Test series against Pakistan, and while there were high hopes for rookie tweakers Chris Green and Patrick Jackson, there is a school of thought the West Australians would feel more unsettled by an uncompromising pace attack.
Batsman Nic Maddinson is likely to assume the spin bowler's role after his four overs in the pressure-packed preliminary final yielded a skinny 11 runs. While all-rounder Shane Watson was in the squad it was highly unlikely he would be called upon to bowl.
However, Cummins, who played in the Big Bash League for the Perth Scorchers before joining this summer's Sydney Thunder roster, suggested the Blues would not have the mortgage on aggressive cricket.
"Nathan Coulter-Nile is always aggressive, he tries to bowl fast and they have attacking bowlers and classy batsmen," he said. "We haven't played them in the Matador Cup yet [the scheduled game was washed out] but I know their coach, Justin Langer, has instilled toughness in them."
Coulter-Nile said although his inspection of the SCG pitch on Saturday suggested it would play low and slow during the final, he expected the Blues to play their pace cards. "When you have a pace attack like NSW it's hard not to pick them," he said. "We know we're coming up against that but we have some good young bowlers coming through so [the final] should be a showdown of the quicks."
While Cummins again proved he is a match-winner with ball or bat – he hammered 31 off 21 deliveries against Queensland to ensure NSW qualified for the final – Coulter-Nile was pleased to see the 21-year-old performing well. "We all know what he can do, and we all want to see him do it," he said.
