Victoria have confirmed their 13-man squad for the opening two matches of the One Day Cup, with the internationally experienced Peter Handscomb, Scott Boland, Marcus Harris, Jon Holland and Will Pucovski to lead the way.
The return of Pucovski to first XI cricket follows repeats struggles with concussion, the last of which was at the end of last summer.
He returned through a second XI game last week, scoring a century, and it was enough for him to be included in the 13-man group to play against New South Wales and Western Australia, with Victoria to host both matches at the Junction Oval on Friday and Sunday respectively.
Peter Handscomb will captain the Victorian side for the two games, while Boland and Harris will be using every match they can to push for selection in the first Test team of the summer come late November, when Australia line up for a pair of Tests against the West Indies, followed by a three-Test series against South Africa which includes both the Boxing Day and New Year's Test.
Other players included in the squad are Sam Elliott, Jake Fraser-McGurk, Mackenzie Harvey, Jono Merlo, Todd Murphy, Mitch Perry, Matt Scott and Will Sutherland, who will all battle for the six spots alongside the five internationally experienced players to play in the two games.
Cricket Victoria confirmed Nic Maddinson was unavailable for the match as he completes his county cricket commitments with Durham, but will be available for the state's first Sheffield Shield match.
Brody Crouch and Zak Evans are the only two players unavailable as they recover from injuries.
Both matches will start at 10:05am (AEST).
Victoria squad to play New South Wales and Western Australia
Peter Handscomb (c) (St Kilda)
Scott Boland (Frankston)
Sam Elliott (Fitzroy- Doncaster)
Jake Fraser-McGurk (Richmond)
Marcus Harris (St Kilda)
Mackenzie Harvey (Carlton)
Jon Holland (Frankston)
Jono Merlo (St Kilda)
Todd Murphy (St Kilda)
Mitch Perry (Richmond)
Will Pucovski (Melbourne)
Matt Short (Northcote)
Will Sutherland (Prahran)
11 to play each game.
