Redbacks drop Elliott from Pura Cup side

Matthew Elliott has become the second South Australia veteran batsman to be dumped this season after the Redbacks omitted him from their Pura Cup squad to take on Tasmania. Elliott follows in the footsteps of Greg Blewett, who was axed from the one-day side in December.

Elliott's struggle for Pura Cup runs, where he has averaged only 13.78 from seven games in 2006-07, is in stark contrast to his limited-overs form. He finished the home-and-away rounds of the Ford Ranger Cup as the competition's leading run-scorer and on Sunday was named player of the series.

South Australia, who cannot reach the final, have taken the opportunity to return Callum Ferguson to the side for his first game since before Christmas. Dan Cullen also earned a recall for the match to start at Adelaide Oval on Thursday, replacing Shaun Tait, who was unavailable due to his World Cup selection.

Tasmania will be led by George Bailey for the first time in a first-class outing, after Dan Marsh failed to recover in time from a torn calf. Dane Anderson, Jason Krejza and Xavier Doherty were all brought in to a 13-man squad for the trip to Adelaide. Brett Geeves was left out of the team and Adam Griffith was also unavailable due to his ongoing hamstring problems.

Tasmania squad Michael Di Venuto, Tim Paine, Michael Dighton, Dane Anderson, George Bailey (capt), Travis Birt, Sean Clingeleffer (wk), Jason Krejza, Damien Wright, Luke Butterworth, Xavier Doherty, Brendan Drew, Ben Hilfenhaus.

South Australia squad Jason Borgas, Daniel Harris, Callum Ferguson, Mark Cosgrove, Darren Lehmann (capt), Nathan Adcock, Shane Deitz (wk), Ryan Harris, Cullen Bailey, Jason Gillespie, Dan Cullen, Paul Rofe.