Love opens up as Bulls chase spot in final

The retiring Martin Love will open the batting for Queensland as they attempt to stay ahead of Tasmania and gain a spot in next week's Sheffield Shield final. The Bulls have a tough assignment against the runaway leaders Victoria at the MCG from Thursday and will look to Love for more help as he shifts from his usual spot at No. 3.

Love, who scored an unbeaten 219 at the Gabba to push the Bulls into second spot, is playing his 150th game for Queensland and needs 113 runs to reach 10,000 in the Sheffield Shield. If the Bulls don't reach the final Love's retirement will start a week earlier than planned. He steps up to partner Ryan Broad following the dropping of Nick Kruger to allow Lee Carseldine back into the line-up.

Victoria are aiming for an almost perfect season as they attempt to avoid giving up points to any of their rivals throughout the summer. In nine games they have won six outright and three on first innings to sit on 42 points, 14 ahead of Queensland, who are four above Tasmania.

The Bushrangers have rested the fast bowler Damien Wright and will also hope Shane Harwood (ankle), Dirk Nannes (side) and Clint McKay (side) can recover over the next week. "We have been very disappointed not to do better in the two earlier finals," the coach Greg Shipperd said. "So this week's match against Queensland will help galvanise everyone into once again realising the opportunity we have to finish off strongly."

Conditions in Melbourne are expected to be cool for the start of the game, which could be a curtain-raiser for the final on March 13. However, if Tasmania gain six points and Queensland can manage only a first-innings win or worse, the Tigers will go through for having more outright victories during the campaign.

Tasmania picked a 13-man squad for the match against South Australia in Adelaide and their task has been made more difficult by the Australia call-up of Brett Geeves, who took eight wickets in the draw with Victoria. Gerard Denton has been ruled out with an ankle injury while Travis Birt wins a spot alongside Wade Irvine and Jeremy Smith. South Australia, who can finish third with a win over the Tigers, are unchanged as they try to record three victories in a row for the first time since 1994-95.

In the final fixture of the round David Warner will make a belated first-class debut in the dead rubber with Western Australia. Despite New South Wales being last on the ladder, Warner, the Twenty20 and one-day international, was overlooked for the previous match and also missed the original outfit for this contest.

However, a recurring back injury has forced Phil Jaques to rest, resulting in Ed Cowan opening and Warner taking a spot in the middle order. Nathan Bracken and Steven Smith return while Peter Forrest, Grant Lambert and Moises Henriques, who made his Twenty20 debut for Australia last month, were dropped.

Steve Magoffin's promotion to the Australia squad forced a late call for Brad Knowles, the former Victoria bowler, who is in line for his maiden first-class game for Western Australia. Arron Crawford and Aaron Heal are also pushing for a place after coming in for Ben Edmondson and Drew Porter.

Queensland squad Ryan Broad, Martin Love, Shane Watson, Andrew Symonds, Lee Carseldine, James Hopes, Chris Hartley (wk), Chris Simpson (capt), Chris Swan, Ben Cutting, Ben Laughlin, Nathan Rimmington.

Victoria squad Nick Jewell, Chris Rogers, Brad Hodge, David Hussey, Rob Quiney, Cameron White (capt), Lloyd Mash, Matthew Wade (wk), John Hastings, Jon Holland, Darren Pattinson, Steven Gilmour.

Tasmania squad Jon Wells, David Dawson, Alex Doolan, George Bailey, Travis Birt, Dan Marsh (capt), Tim Paine (wk), Wade Irvine, Luke Butterworth, Jason Krejza, Jeremy Smith, Chris Duval, Tim Macdonald.

South Australia squad Daniel Harris, James Smith, Michael Klinger, Mark Cosgrove, Callum Ferguson, Aaron O'Brien, Graham Manou (capt, wk), Daniel Christian, Cullen Bailey, Mark Cleary, Jake Haberfield, Peter George.

New South Wales squad Greg Mail, Ed Cowan, Ben Rohrer, Dominic Thornely (capt), Usman Khawaja, David Warner, Steven Smith, Daniel Smith (wk), Beau Casson, Nathan Bracken, Burt Cockley, Mitchell Starc.

Western Australia squad Liam Davis, Luke Towers, Wes Robinson, David Bandy, Adam Voges (capt), Luke Pomersbach, Michael Johnson (wk), Arron Crawford, Aaron Heal, Brad Knowles, Josh Mangan, Brett Dorey.