Smith, Warner to return to first-class cricket in shield

STEVE Smith and David Warner will make their long-awaited returns to first-class cricket in Australia next week when the Sheffield Shield season kicks into gear.

It was a regular sight to see the two superstars training with NSW last summer in their Blues kits, but playing any form of state cricket was part of the strict 12-month ban imposed on them.

Smith and Warner both made high-profile returns to international cricket during the World Cup and Ashes in England, however, the Gabba clash against Queensland starting on Thursday shapes as their first meaningful return to cricket on home soil ahead of the coming international summer.

NSW will rest fellow Ashes stars Nathan Lyon, Josh Hazlewood and Pat Cummins for the opening round, but left-arm assassin Mitchel Starc is set to play.

The plan is for Lyon to return for the second shield match at the SCG, while Hazlewood and Cummins will be kept on ice until a one-dayer for NSW in Sydney on October 23.

Starc will also get a spell at some point before the Test summer, but will line-up in the first Shield match after being left out of four of the five Ashes Tests.

Warner struggled against England but isn’t expected to be under any pressure to hold his spot at the top of the order for the first Test against Pakistan in late November.

Australian captain Tim Paine declared in an interview last week that Warner has more than enough runs on the board on home soil to be a guaranteed start.