Sheffield Shield: Refreshed Cam Gannon ready for WA’s red-ball return against South Australia at the WACA

Pace ace Cam Gannon has high hopes for WA heading their Sheffield Shield against South Australia at the WACA Ground tomorrow (Thursday). It will be nine days shy of a year since WA last played a red-ball match on their home turf, with Gannon on the opposition team during a hard-fought draw with Queensland. Even without captain Mitch Marsh, vice-captain Ashton Turner, allrounder Marcus Stoinis and speedster Jhye Richardson - all on Australian Twenty20 duties in New Zealand - last season’s shield leading-wicket taker believes WA has one of the best teams going around. “We’ve got two of the form opening batsmen in the competition in Sam Whiteman and Cam Bancroft, and they’re both looking fantastic at the moment,” Gannon said. “Then we’ve got possibly the best domestic player we’ve seen in so long in Shaun Marsh coming in at three and Cam Green, who could be the next Shane Watson or even better, after that. “For mine, Josh Inglis is shy of Tim Paine, the best wicketkeeper-batsman in Australia and should be his successor. “It’s remarkable how much talent we’ve got and then potentially adding Mitch Marsh and ‘Stoin’ on top of that, depending on the IPL (Indian Premier League).” Gannon was looking forward to teaming up with Matt Kelly again after both were unable to force their way into the Perth Scorchers’ best XI during the Big Bash League. Gannon opted to stay home after the Perth leg of the tournament, which has helped him feel mentally refreshed ahead of back-end of the domestic summer. Kelly continued with the squad without getting a look in ahead of the fit-again pace trio of Richardson, Andrew Tye and Jason Behrendorff. “On the back of the BBL hub, Matt Kelly is really excited to get out there and play. I bowled with him in the nets (yesterday) and he bowled fantastically,” Gannon said. WA squad: Shaun Marsh (captain), Cam Bancroft, Jake Carder, Hilton Cartwright, Cam Gannon, Cam Green, Liam Guthrie, Aaron Hardie, Josh Inglis (wk), Matt Kelly, Liam O’Connor, Joel Paris, Sam Whiteman.