Injury woes continue for Blues

A growing injury toll has decimated the NSW pace attack on the eve of its Weet-Bix Sheffield Shield showdown against Victoria at the SCG.

With Nathan Bracken (hamstring) and Mark Cameron (ankle) ruled out on the eve of the match, the Blues must now rely heavily on spin-twins Beau Casson and Nathan Hauritz while a brigade of part-time seamers will share the new-ball burden.

"At the moment Burt Cockley's one of our few fit new-ball bowlers but after that Grant Lambert, Moises Henriques and myself will have to bowl a fair bit in this match," NSW skipper Dominic Thornely explained on Monday.

"We may look at another option maybe but at the moment that's what we've got, that's what we're dealt with."

"It's going to take a lot of character and a lot of commitment from the bowlers but again that's what shield cricket's about."

Thornely said the chance to return to the SCG after a month on the road could not have come at a better time and backed his slow bowlers to carry the load against a powerful Bushrangers batting line-up.

"It gives us an opportunity to show off some of the spinners that we've got in this state," Thornely said of his side's first home fixture of the campaign.

"We've got some really good spin bowlers around and obviously with a few of the opening bowlers missing the opportunity will come for these spinners to play."

But while the skipper is prepared to put his faith in his former Test spinners, he conceded toppling the Bushrangers won't be an easy task and lamented the absence of last season's leading wicket taker.

"It'd be great to have Doug Bollinger here, that's the frustrating part," he said.

"Doug thoroughly deserves to be sitting over there in India and on tour with the Australian cricket team and that's where he should be," Thornely said.

"But there's just that little bit of frustration when you know he's doing nothing and he could be here serving a real purpose for his game and for us as well."

NSW Squad:
Dominic THORNELY (c)
Burt COCKLEY
Peter FORREST
Moises HENRIQUES
Nathan HAURITZ
Phillip HUGHES
Beau CASSON
Usman KHAWAJA
Grant LAMBERT
Daniel SMITH
Steven SMITH
Greg MAIL