Newcastle representative coach Shane Burley admits captain Nathan Price will be missed in Canberra on Thursday, but said teammates won't be distracted by his four-match suspension this week and veteran off-spinner Nick Foster deserves a chance to lead the city's top cricket XI.
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Burley and the 12-man squad departed via bus on Wednesday afternoon ahead of the Prime Minister's XI curtain-raiser, featuring Newcastle and the ACT Comets at Manuka Oval (2pm).
It follows Price's judicial hearing with Country Cricket NSW on Monday night.
The reigning Newcastle player of the year, who had been allowed to take the field on the weekend with the case pending, was ruled out of this upcoming representative fixture, club commitments for Wallsend on Saturday and at least part of the three-day NSW Country Championships from November 1.
All-rounder Price, who opted not to take an early plea, was found guilty of dissent having been put on report after round one of the T20 Regional Bash at Waratah Oval on October 13.
"Obviously Nathan [Price] is a good player and we will miss him," Burley said.
"But we're lucky we've got good depth in the squad. We showed that in the T20 Regional Bash, winning all of our games and finishing one-two [Lake Mac Attack, Newcastle Blasters] in our group.
"Everyone is focused on their own business and they won't be distracted [by the suspension]."
Burley has now appointed Foster, a former NSW Country representative and long-time servant at Stockton and Northern Districts, to skipper Newcastle for the first time.
"It's probably a good reward for Nick [Foster]," he said.
"He debuted for Newcastle almost 20 years ago and he would be close to playing the most [representative] games for Newcastle."
Newcastle, no longer part of the Sydney T20 competition, get a chance to play under the Steel banner for the one and only occasion this summer.
"We consider this a big fixture and our goal was to keep the Steel alive," Burley said.
Wallsend all-rounder Jake Montgomery has been called up with Wests leg-spinner Aaron Bills unavailable.
Meanwhile, Novocastrian Jason Sangha will be part of the main game (7:10pm) in the nation's capital playing alongside the likes of Peter Siddle, Dan Christian and Chris Lynn for the PM's XI against Sri Lanka. Former Australian Test paceman Jason Gillespie is the coach.
NEWCASTLE: Nick Foster (c), Daniel Arms, Jeff Goninan, Nathan Hudson, Ben Balcomb, Jed Dickson, Adrian Chad, Aaron Wivell, Josh Geary, Jake Montgomery, Brad Aldous, Andrew Somerville.
