NSW quartet promise to take no prisoners

Australian Test bowlers Nathan Lyon, Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood and Mitchell Starc warm up for a busy summer program with a Sheffield Shield hit out for NSW.

Australian attack

The Australian Test bowling attack get primed for India with a Sheffield Shield outing for NSW. (AAP)

The band are back together - and they're taking no prisoners.

For the first time since the Ashes series earlier in the year, Australia's premier bowling attack of Nathan Lyon, Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Pat Cummins take the field together on Friday.

Only they won't be wearing the baggy green, they'll be under the baggy blue of NSW in their Sheffield Shield clash with Queensland at Canberra's Manuka Oval.

It will serve an important primer for the coming summer when the quartet will be asked to lead an Australian Test side at their lowest ebb in decades.

While uncertainty abounds about the batting order for the first Test at the Adelaide Oval on December 6, Lyon, Starc, Hazlewood and Cummins are locked in.

The game will be also be an important hit for Manuka Oval, which hosts February's second Test against Sri Lanka.

"To be out and all firing together, it's exciting," Lyon said on Thursday.

"Hopefully we can put in a good performance all four of us, really get those combinations and those partnerships working again.

"It's going to be vital before the first Test match against India."

There will be no restrictions placed on the quartet and their workloads - meaning there won't be a repeat of controversial scenes two years ago when Starc was pulled midway through a Shield game in Brisbane.

They will also provide the ultimate litmus test for Test hopefuls Matt Renshaw, Joe Burns and Marnus Labuschagne.

Lyon predicted Renshaw could all but seal a return to the Australian top order if he can get amongst the runs in Canberra against a Test-level attack.

"If Matt Renshaw comes out and bats well, against this opposition, I dare say it'll weigh pretty heavily," Lyon said.

"But we're not going to go easy on him just because he's one of our mates and he's trying to get back into the Test side. Selection is up to the selectors and the coach and the captain."

Both sides have one win and two draws from three games - defending champion Queensland languishes in last place.


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Source: AAP



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