A mass player shortage confronting the NSW Blues has been exacerbated by former Test seamer Trent Copeland succumbing to a stress fracture of the back.
While the immediate attention is on Friday's Matador Cup elimination final, where Trevor Bayliss' team will be boosted by the presence of Shane Watson, the defending Sheffield Shield champions are having to patch together an XI for the opening of the four-day competition next week.
Already 12 players are due to be missing for the first two Shield games owing to national selection – seven are in the Test squad in Dubai, and another five called up to Australia's Twenty20 squad for matches against South Africa next month.
The number of absentees has now risen to 14, however, with Copeland having scans on a back injury on Wednesday and all-rounder Moises Henriques facing up to six weeks on the sideline with a torn calf.
A member of the Blues' Shield winning team in March, Copeland, 28, would have been a starter in the first round of the new season against Victoria at the MCG, joining Test aspirant Josh Hazlewood and Gurinder Sandhu in the NSW pace line-up as Doug Bollinger is on Australian T20 duty.
The extent of Copeland's injury is yet to be determined with scans expected on Thursday but, at the very least, his short-term absence is another headache for Blues selectors.
While another contracted Blues fast bowler, Penrith's Josh Lalor, would be the obvious replacement against Victoria – and for the day-night match against South Australia in Adelaide the following week – there are other holes to fill.
The NSW contingent in the United Arab Emirates were never going to be available but the absence of Henriques, Nic Maddinson and all-rounder Sean Abbott, as well as the returning Watson, because of a clash with the T20 internationals, will stretch the Blues' batting stocks.
Left-hander Daniel Hughes will, as a result, likely be called upon to make only his second Shield appearance while rookies Jake Doran and Harry Conway could also come into consideration.
At 17, the much-touted Doran would become one of the state's youngest ever cricketers if picked. However, while his entry to first-class cricket is considered only a matter of time, he is in the midst of his HSC, which may affect his availability.
Bayliss, who last week questioned the place of T20 internationals on the calendar, will also be away for the Blues' first two Shield games as he fills in for Australia coach Darren Lehmann for the short-form series against South Africa.
Watson will play as a batsman only for the Blues in the Matador Cup knock-out final on Friday, and in Sunday's final if NSW qualify.
Meanwhile, West Indies Cricket Board directors want to meet with their Indian counterparts in a bid to limit the consequences of the Caribbean side abandoning its tour of India.
The West Indies cut short their tour last Friday after an internal pay dispute, even though a fifth one-day international, a Twenty20 match and three Tests remained to be played.
India retaliated by cancelling a tour scheduled for February and March 2016 to play three Tests, five one-dayers and a Twenty20 international.
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), one of the richest bodies in world cricket, said on Tuesday it would "initiate legal proceedings", but gave no details.
Initial estimates put the BCCI's losses on the India tour at $US65 million ($70 million).
Fighting a costly legal action is something the WICB can hardly afford, given the cancellation of the February-March 2016 fixtures also threatens to be financially devastating for Caribbean cricket.
Following an eight-hour emergency meeting in Barbados on Tuesday, the WICB issued a statement saying it was "deeply embarrassed" and a taskforce of "critical stakeholders" would be established to review the premature end of the tour of India.
Officials will also hold an urgent debriefing with the West Indies management in India, led by team manager Richie Richardson, the former West Indies captain.
Another former skipper, Clive Lloyd, was in India in his capacity as chairman of selectors. He is expected to provide his input on the reasons for the rapid deterioration in relations between the players, the West Indies Players' Association and the WICB.
