Blues pick Bird and Burt to battle Bulls

NSW have been hit by injuries, with paceman Mark Cameron and all-rounder Moises Henriques pulling out of tomorrow's Ford Ranger Cup match against Queensland in Cairns.

Aaron Bird returns to the squad after yesterday losing his place to Henriques. Cricket NSW said Henriques was troubled by a side injury.

Burt Cockley comes in for Cameron, who hurt his ankle during last week's Sheffield Shield game in Perth against Western Australia.

In Adelaide, a polished century from Michael Klinger saved South Australia, and a sporting declaration from Victorian captain David Hussey could yet save the Sheffield Shield match.

In a game where the bat has dominated ball, Klinger hit an unbeaten 150 for the Redbacks yesterday, rescuing his newly adopted side from following on in its first four-day game of the season.

It will take a bold declaration from Hussey today to set the match up for a dramatic finish. At stumps on day three the Bushrangers were 1-51 in their second innings, for an overall lead of 167. Redbacks captain Graham Manou declared his side's first innings closed at 7-357, still 116 runs behind.

In his first Shield game for the Redbacks since moving to Adelaide from Victoria in the off-season, Klinger toiled for more than seven hours to hold South Australia's innings together.

He had some support from Manou (33) and spinner Dan Cullen (23 not out) but he was the standout, finishing with his highest first-class score. The fact it came against his old side was more the result of his determination to do well this summer rather than any desire to extract revenge on the state that offered him limited opportunities.

"I wouldn't call it revenge," Klinger said. "Leaving Victoria to come here was my choice, I still had another year of my contract in Melbourne.

"The opportunity that came up here was just too good to refuse.

"I don't think it would have made a difference if we were playing Victoria or anyone else, I was pretty determined to have a good year."

Klinger said South Australia expected to be chasing 250 plus today but that largely depended on how many overs the Bushrangers thought they would need to have a chance of bowling the Redbacks out.