Final preparations are underway at the iconic TIO Traeger Park at Alice Springs ahead of the crucial Sheffield Shield clash between the Victoria Bushrangers and New South Wales Blues.

The matchup is the final round of the regular season, with both sides still in the finals race. Victoria, who are sitting in first position are just 0.96 points ahead of Queensland, with NSW one spot further back.

Should Victoria win by a greater margin than Queensland, the Bushrangers will return to the Red Centre for the Sheffield Shield final on 26 March.

While Victoria has struggled in recent matches in 2016, they were unbeaten in two games in Alice Springs last season. Fawad Ahmed and Jon Holland played key roles on both occasions and have been named in Victoria’s squad.

"Hopefully the wicket is dry and it will take a little bit of spin," Bushrangers captain Matthew Wade said last week.

"If Jon plays, which I'm assuming he will, he and Fawad Ahmed will go in as two spinners and Chris Tremain and Scott Boland (as pace bowlers) and then we'll use our all-rounders."

New South Wales might also take two spinners into the match with teenager Arjun Nair an option to join in-form Australian Test spinner Nathan Lyon.

“He [Lyon] is probably the best spinner in the world at the moment, so we’re going to have to be at our best as well,” Wade said.
 
Gates open at 9:30am Tuesday 15 March - entry is free.

Both squads are listed below:

Victoria squad: Matthew Wade (C), Fawad Ahmed, Scott Boland, Dan Christian, Travis Dean, Peter Handscomb, Ian Holland, Jon Holland, Rob Quiney, Marcus Stoinis, Chris Tremain, Cameron White

New South Wales squad: Nic Maddinson (c), Sean Abbott, Doug Bollinger, Ryan Carters, Trent Copeland, Harry Conway, Ed Cowan, Daniel Hughes, Nick Larkin, Nathan Lyon, Arjun Nair, Kurtis Patterson, Ben Rohrer

For media queries, contact Jake Hauritz 0478 128268.