Western Australia will take a cautious approach with star fast bowler Nathan Coulter-Nile as the State attempts to win cricket's triple crown.
Coulter-Nile returned from a hamstring injury during the latter stages of the Perth Scorchers' title-winning T20 campaign, but he won't be risked for WA's Sheffield Shield clash with South Australia, starting Saturday.
With Mitchell Johnson and Mitch Marsh on World Cup duties, and Jason Behrendorff out for the rest of the season due to stress fractures in his back, WA's pace depth will be put to the test over the next six weeks.
WA cricket currently possess the 50-over and T20 crowns, and all they need now is the Shield title to make it a triple success.
The Warriors sit second on the Shield table behind Victoria, and they have a chance to consolidate their top-two spot when they take on a turmoil-hit Redbacks side at the WACA Ground.
SA coach Darren Berry is on indefinite leave due to personal reasons, while earlier this week Johan Botha was dumped as skipper in favour of Travis Head.
Warriors captain Adam Voges said the prospect of landing a third crown this summer was in the forefront of his team's thoughts.
"It's an opportunity to do something that no one ever has done before," Voges said.
"We understand that and how exciting that could be, but we also understand we've got a hell of a lot of work to do before then.
"The Shield is the pinnacle. We haven't won a Shield for a long time now. It's certainly something we are striving for as a playing group."
With Behrendorff ruled out, the temptation to play Coulter-Nile this week was hard to resist.
But Voges said the decision to rest him is the right one, with Coulter-Nile instead set to return for the February 16-19 clash with the Redbacks in Adelaide.
"He needs to get a bit more bowling done before he becomes available," Voges said.
"I see him playing a really big part in the back-end of our Shield season.
"We've got five games in five weeks, so our whole bowling depth is going to get tested and Coults will be a big part of that."
In the absence of both Behrendorff and Coulter-Nile, pace trio Simon Mackin, Andrew Tye and Ryan Duffield will battle it out for the vacant spots.
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