Victoria call on Maxwell as Nannes nurses hamstring

The international call-up of Andrew McDonald and hamstring injuries to Dirk Nannes and Damien Wright have forced Victoria to select the uncapped allrounder Glenn Maxwell for Saturday's FR Cup match against Tasmania. Maxwell, 21, has been brought into the squad along with the batsman Michael Hill.

While the unavailability of McDonald is a positive as the allrounder aims to make his ODI debut in India, the absence of Nannes and Wright will test Victoria's bowling stocks. They are already without Clint McKay and Jon Holland, who are with the ODI squad, and the loss of Nannes in particular is a serious blow.

Nannes, who didn't play in Wednesday's one-day win over South Australia, could be out for up to a month with an inflamed tendon in the lower region of his hamstring. The coach Greg Shipperd said the loss of key players - Cameron White is also in India and Peter Siddle has a side problem - would test Victoria's depth.

"We are limited with our bowling but we still think we can give an excellent account of ourselves," Shipperd told AAP. "[Having players on national duty] is something we've looked forward to for a long time now and our response to that is blooding new players or players who have been waiting for opportunities. Our depth is tested but something positive will come out of it."

An offspinner and aggressive batsman, the possible debutant Maxwell last week represented Australia at the Hong Kong Sixes tournament. Saturday's match at the MCG is Victoria's first home game of the summer after they began their season in India for the Champions League Twenty20.

Victoria FR Cup squad Chris Rogers, Rob Quiney, Brad Hodge, David Hussey (capt), Aaron Finch, Michael Hill, Matthew Wade (wk), John Hastings, Glenn Maxwell, Shane Harwood, Darren Pattinson, Bryce McGain.