Victoria and New South Wales jostle to host final

Victoria have been struck by a couple of bowling injuries as they attempt to strengthen their position to host the Pura Cup final when they play Western Australia in Perth from Friday. Peter Siddle has been ruled out with a shoulder problem while Darren Pattinson's ankle has not recovered in time as they push to move ahead of New South Wales, who are also on 33 points.

Shane Harwood and Allan Wise have come into the outfit and the squad has also been boosted by the recoveries of Gerard Denton and Dirk Nannes, whose workloads will be monitored in the lead-up to the final. The Bushrangers will face a more experienced Western Australia top-order than in the Warriors' most recent match, with Adam Voges returning from a hamstring strain to replace Liam Davis.

Greg Shipperd, the Victoria coach, said hosting the decider would be a significant advantage. "We've got to push as hard as we can to win points in these remaining games and maintain our momentum," he said.

New South Wales, who lead on quotient, will continue their bid to stay on top with a new fast bowler on board after Burt Cockley was chosen for Friday's match against Tasmania in Hobart. Cockley, who plays for the Randwick-Petersham club, is part of the restructure following the returns of Steven Smith and Phillip Hughes from the Under-19 World Cup in Malaysia, where Australia were knocked out in the quarter-finals.

Greg Mail, who scored 68 and 4 against Victoria, has been dropped while Doug Bollinger, the leading wicket-taker in the competition, is out with a fractured foot. Cockley, 21, moved to Sydney from Newcastle last year and has played in the New South Wales 2nd XI this season. In 15 first-grade matches he has 28 wickets at 20.36 and was 12th man for the FR Cup fixture with Victoria last week.

Victoria squad Nick Jewell, Lloyd Mash, Brad Hodge, David Hussey, Rob Quiney, Cameron White (capt), Andrew McDonald, Matthew Wade (wk), Shane Harwood, Clint McKay, Bryce McGain, Allan Wise.

New South Wales squad Phil Jaques, Phillip Hughes, Peter Forrest, Simon Katich (capt), Dominic Thornely, Usman Khawaja, Daniel Smith (wk), Steven Smith, Beau Casson, Matthew Nicholson, Mark Cameron, Burt Cockley.

Western Australia squad Chris Rogers, Justin Langer, Shaun Marsh, Marcus North (capt), Adam Voges, Luke Pomersbach, Luke Ronchi (wk), Aaron Heal, Brett Dorey, Steve Magoffin, Mathew Inness, Ben Edmondson.