Baby Blues aim for back to back

It's only natural for the previous season's champions to start the next Sheffield Shield campaign as favourites. But what happens when that team loses its leading run scorer and its top wicket taker? New South Wales are about to find out as they aim to go back to back in 2008-09 with a side short on experience but long on talent.

Last summer they relied heavily on Simon Katich, whose record tally of 1506 Pura Cup runs was nearly three times greater than that of any of his team-mates. Doug Bollinger carried the attack with 45 wickets and headed the competition list despite missing four games. Both men are in India with the Test squad - along with another six Blues - and there is every chance Australian commitments will keep them away from the state scene for much of the season.

In the absence of the usual on-field leaders, Katich and Brad Haddin, the acting captain is Dominic Thornely. An indication of the fresh group he will be guiding came with the Blues' announcement of their squad for the first one-day match of the season: eight of the 12 men have played fewer than ten FR Cup games. It will be a similar story in the first-class competition.

"We've addressed the fact that we've lost someone who's made 1000 runs for us," Thornely said of Katich's impending absence. "We lost Phil Jaques last year, with every loss of a player there's an opportunity for another.

"It still may well be a case of the baby Blues go back to back. For us to do that these younger guys are going to have to step up. If we can get 20 to 30% more from some of these guys that could be enough."

Among Thornely's "baby Blues" are the opener Phillip Hughes, 19, who made a century in last season's Pura Cup final, and the top-order batsman Peter Forrest, 22, who like Hughes toured India with Australia A last month. There is also Steven Smith, 19, an allrounder who combines top-order batting and legspin, and Moises Henriques, 21, who spent time with the Australia squad in Darwin this year.

While the Sheffield Shield - the traditional name is back after a decade as the Pura Cup - is the major prize, New South Wales are also desperate to improve their limited-overs efforts. Last season they finished on the bottom of the table as Tasmania claimed the FR Cup and shrinking the gulf between the Blues' four-day and one-day form is one of Thornely's goals.

Part of their one-day plan will include a heavy focus on spin. Three slow bowlers were named in their first FR Cup squad - Smith, Nathan Hauritz and Steve O'Keefe - and with Beau Casson also keen to push for further international opportunities, there could soon be a return to the days of spinners dominating at the SCG. That's without even considering Stuart MacGill, who is yet to announce whether he will be available for state selection having retired from international cricket.

"This year you'll see a lot of spin bowling done by New South Wales," Thornely said. "We've just played some practice games where I used four spin bowlers. Five spinners in a one-day match is not unrealistic this year. Spin bowling is where it is at for us at the moment."

Thornely has filled in as the state's captain before, although this season it will be almost a full-time role if Katich keeps making Test runs. He describes himself as the kind of leader who will freely allow his men to play their natural games. It is a method that looks brilliant when it works but can also backfire spectacularly. In his first match as the stand-in skipper, Thornely presided over New South Wales' all-time lowest Pura Cup total of 53 against Tasmania.

"I was told ten minutes before the match that I was captain, Simon [Katich] pulled out with a broken thumb," Thornely said. "Our wicketkeeper was also in doubt with an injury and wasn't even at the ground yet, so I was literally walking out with a team sheet of ten players.

"I looked at Simon after the innings and said 'I think you can have the captaincy back'. But he predicted I'd get a hundred in the second innings and we'd give them a challenge and that's what happened. I look back on that game and it gave me a lot of belief as a captain."

In that 2006-07 season, Tasmania went on to win the title. Thornely expects the major challengers this summer to be Victoria, who reached the finals in all three formats last season. He also believes Queensland will bounce back following a rare bad year in 2007-08, when they finished last in the Pura Cup. Both the Bushrangers and the Bulls have gained important players during the off-season.

The domestic summer kicks off on Wednesday with a one-day game between Western Australia and New South Wales at the WACA. The Sheffield Shield campaign begins on Friday when the Warriors host the Blues and Tasmania travel to Queensland. Thornely knows that this season more than any other, finding form quickly will be critical.

"We play 75% of our season by Christmas," he said. "We need to get on a roll and get into some good form. If we don't hit the ground running then come November-December, half our season is over and there'll be some real catching up to do."