The Southern Scorpions have named their twelve-player squad to take on the NSWIS (New South Wales Institute of Sport) Blues in the opening matches of the 2000-01 Women's National Cricket League at the Adelaide Oval No.2 on the weekend.

The team contains three players in Australia's preliminary squad of 25 for the CricInfo Women's World Cup, to be staged in New Zealand at the end of the year - namely Scorpions captain and all-rounder Karen Rolton, opening batsman Jo Broadbent and leg-spinner Olivia Magno. All are expected to make the final 15 when chosen.

The Scorpions will need to improve on last season's showing, however, if they are to be a match for a strong Blues outfit. The South Australians won just one of their eight matches in last year's league to finish in bottom position among the five competing teams.

The left-handed Rolton is consistently one of the best all-round performers in the National League, scoring 261 runs and taking ten wickets last season. She is expected to share the new ball with right-arm medium-fast bowler Belinda Noack, who took 12 wickets at 20.33 last summer.

The two 50 over-a-side matches between the Scorpions and the Blues will commence at Adelaide Oval No.2 at 10am local time (0030 GMT) on both Saturday October 14 and Sunday October 15. CricInfo will be providing live scorecards of both games.

The Southern Scorpions team is: Karen Rolton (capt), Belinda Noack (vc), Joanne Broadbent, Lauren Ebsary, Jo-Anna Kenney, Olivia Magno, Amy Marrett, Libby Markwick, Heather Marshall, Shelley Nitschke, Jessie Oldfield, Nichole Simon.

© CricInfo Ltd 2000