Blues lose Cameron and Henriques to injury

New South Wales have called on the fast bowlers Aaron Bird and Burt Cockley after their attack took a couple of injury hits ahead of the FR Cup game against Queensland in Cairns on Saturday. The Blues have named a 12-man squad that does not feature Moises Henriques or Mark Cameron, both of whom had been expected to play.

The destructive Cameron, who was part of the Australia A tour of India last month, has struggled to get over an ankle injury he picked up during the Blues' recent Sheffield Shield game in Perth. Henriques, the promising allrounder who spent time with Australia's squad in Darwin in September, has battled a side injury in the past few weeks and remains unable to bowl.

It could mean a possible one-day debut for Cockley, the right-arm fast-medium bowler who played his sole first-class match late last summer. Bird had been chosen in the squad for the opening FR Cup match of the season but was left out of the starting line-up.

The Blues began their campaign with a tight victory against Western Australia last week. They will be taking on a Queensland outfit that features the Australia one-day players Andrew Symonds and James Hopes, but lost to Tasmania at the Gabba on Wednesday.

FR Cup squad Phillip Hughes, Peter Forrest, Daniel Smith (wk), Dominic Thornely (capt), Steven Smith, David Warner, Steve O'Keefe, Grant Lambert, Nathan Hauritz, Nathan Bracken, Aaron Bird, Burt Cockley.