Injury-prone pace duo Nathan Coulter-Nile and Jason Behrendorff will avoid red-ball cricket over the next five months in a bid to keep their Test dreams alive.
Coulter-Nile and Behrendorff have been plagued by serious back injuries in recent years, robbing them of the chance to play Test cricket for Australia.
The pair are set to play important roles for WA and the Perth Scorchers in this season's one-day and T20 tournaments.
But they have been ruled out of Sheffield Shield duties until at least February in a bid to avoid another injury breakdown.
Vice-captain Ashton Turner, who is set to skipper WA for most of the season while Mitch Marsh is on international duty, is supportive of the move.
"I know speaking to those two guys they still have aspirations of playing Test cricket in Australia," Turner said at WA's season launch on Wednesday.
"For them, it's probably not right around the corner because they've got a long road to being able to get their bodies right to sustain five days of fast bowling.
"Their focus right now is on white-ball cricket but in the back of their mind their long-term goal is to play Test cricket."
With Behrendorff and Coulter-Nile unavailable for at least the first half of the Shield season, the Warriors will rely heavily on rising star Jhye Richardson and another injury-prone quick in Joel Paris.
Richardson was unlucky to miss selection for next month's Test series against Pakistan but Turner is happy to have the 21-year-old at his disposal.
"He's as skilful a bowler as I've ever seen," he said.
"If you're being critical, he's got too many tricks and sometimes he confuses himself about what he needs to bowl next.
"But he's a brilliant talent. We're excited to have him."
WA cricket has enjoyed recent success in both one-day and T20 cricket.
But the State's Sheffield Shield drought dates back to 1998/99 - a blip that Turner is desperate to correct this summer.
Share
