Queensland boosted by Hopes for final

James Hopes and Lee Carseldine will return for Queensland to provide a much-needed dose of experience for the Sheffield Shield final against Victoria starting on Wednesday. Hopes is back after playing in Australia's 3-2 win over New Zealand while Carseldine has been passed fit following a broken toe that ruled him out of the Bulls' last regular-season game.

While Western Australia won that match by three wickets, the Bulls were outplayed for most of the contest and their batting was a major worry as they were dismissed for 106 and 285. Craig Philipson, Nathan Reardon and Nathan Rimmington have been dropped from the 13-man outfit while the uncapped duo of Ben Dunk and Jason Floros have been selected.

Dunk, a wicketkeeper-batsman, was outstanding in the Twenty20 competition and the allrounder Floros was part of Australia's Under-19 World Cup win. "We'll have a good look at the conditions and make our decision [on the XI] from there," Queensland's chairman of selectors Ray Phillips said.

"There are a few things we're considering so we'll take our time to finalise things.'' The squad will arrive in Melbourne on Monday and some of the players will attend the state cricket media awards.

Queensland squad Ryan Broad, Wade Townsend, Lee Carseldine, James Hopes, Chris Lynn, Chris Hartley (wk), Ben Dunk, Jason Floros, Chris Simpson (capt), Cameron Boyce, Ben Cutting, Luke Feldman, Chris Swan.