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Both the New South Wales Blues and Southern Redbacks desperately require a win if they want to make the finals of the Sheffield Shield when they do battle at Coffs Harbour International Stadium. Join The Roar for live scores from 10:30am (AEDT).
The Blues come into this game off a draw at the WACA against the Western Warriors. It marked their second drawn match against the Warriors in as many matches, after they played them in New Zealand during Round 6.
Round 7 was the second day-night match for the season, and the Blues bowlers again struggled to make inroads, despite having a WACA pitch and the pink ball.
In their day-night match, the Redbacks took on the ladder-leading Victorian Bushrangers, and fell by 218 runs at home. That followed another home loss, against the Queensland Bulls, and has seen the Redbacks fall down the table to third.
They sit just two points ahead of the Blues on the table, who are fourth with the same amount of wins – only bonus points and draws separating the teams. They are both two wins behind Victoria though, and one behind the second-placed Bulls.
If either of these teams want to host the final, then winning all three remaining games is essential. Even making the final is going to require plenty of victories, as they need to overtake the bonus-point-rich Bulls.
When these two teams last met, in Round 1, the Blues had almost an international line up and absolutely demolished the Redbacks, winning by 215 runs.
For the Blues, 17-year-old Arjun Nair could make his debut, with Nathan Lyon and Steve O’Keefe out of action, and Will Somerville facing an injury battle.
The Redbacks miss Adam Zampa, and have dropped Tim Ludeman and Tom Cooper.
Prediction
With both teams lacking a recognised top-line spinner, it is going to come down to the battle of the new ball, and how the respective top orders handle their opposition pace attacks. The Blues should have the goods, but Gurinder Sandhu and Doug Bollinger need big matches.
Blues in a close one.
Be sure to join The Roar for live scores of this Round 8 Sheffield Shield match from 10:30am (AEDT), and don’t forget to add your own comments in the section below as the action unfolds.
Follow Scott on Twitter @sk_pryde
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