The first 11 will host Narrabri at the Sportsground in round two of the War Veteran’s Cup, while the Dumaresq Colts will face off against Tamworth’s second XI at Harris Park.

Narrabri were also bundled out of the Country Cup last week at the hands of defending champions Tamworth, and will be bolstered by the return of Jarrod Lyons and Sam Bullen to the representative ranks.

Armidale will also take a changed side into the match.

The Schaefer brothers, Matthew and Michael, will both be missing, and Matt House will be rested for a week.

Michael will be sidelined due to a thumb injury, while older brother Matthew has other commitments.

“He’s (House) got bad shins at the moment,” captain Adam O’Sullivan said.

“We’ll need him later in the season so the week off should do him real good.”

Brad Schumacher will return to representative cricket for the first time in a few years, while Taj Dosanjh, Adam Bailey and Dean Moore all return to the fold.

“We’ve brought in another spinner in Schumacher to add a bit of variety to the bowling,” O’Sullivan said.

“The batting is a little bit weaker than last week without the Schaefer boys but with Dean Moore and Adam Bailey back they’ll be able to do the job.”

O’Sullivan said he was wary of the Narrabri opposition.

“They made the final last year so they’re a handy side,” he said.

“Two losses at the start isn’t the best way to start the season but there’s only one way for us to go from here.

“Now that we’re out of the SCG Country Cup our goal is to win the War Veteran’s Cup.”

Despite last week’s close loss to Inverell, O’Sullivan said there were positives to come out of the match.

“We batted out our 50 overs and scored over 200,” he said.

“They were 0-60 from about eight overs and after that they were able to just work the ones and twos around the ground.

“They just got off to too good a start and we were always behind the eight-ball.”

TEAMS:

Armidale First XI: Adam O’Sullivan (c), Adam Bailey, Andrew Brownlie, Steven Butler, Josh Croft, Taj Dosanjh, Joe Horneman, Dean Moore, Angus Reckord, Brad Schumacher, Liam Smith, Cameron Wood.

Dumaresq Colts: Andrew Byrne (c), Matt Baillie, Adam Baillie, Alex Barwick, Mark Bennie, Andy Brown, Bentley Cropper, Andrew Curry, Alexander Frost, Mitch Moore, Nick Sewell, Jason Strudwick.